Howling Winds
by Villain in Glasses
Summary: On the outskirts of Edelweiss City, a newborn guild begins to take shape. Join the newly formed Howling Winds guild as they embark on a journey to being recognised and leaving their mark on Fiore. -OC submissions are closed for now-.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

The gentle hum of a music box resounded through the bar-like first floor of the once rundown inn. The music was disrupted by the sound of hard steps coming down the wooden stairs from the second floor. The slender, blue eyed woman dressed in a purple blouse and knee length black skirt pulled back her long blonde hair and tied it with a ribbon so she could start her work.

Letting out a defeated sigh she set about wiping down the several small, round tables that were set out across the hall and arranged the chairs. Once she was satisfied that everything looked neat and tidy she walked to the bar counter that was on the far end off the room. Pulling up a stool she sat so that she could watch the door while doing her work.

"Let's start a guild he said, it'll be fun he said. He convinced me to do this and then he ran off to do god knows what." She huffed as she pulled out blueprints from behind the bar counter.

She began to analyze the plans as she decided what more needed to be done on the guild hall. When she first saw the two storey building, the brick walls were suffering dozens of cracks and covered in foliage. After weeks of renovation and hard labour, the place looked fit to run as an inn again.

As she made notes on the blueprints, the sound of the doors creaking open caught her attention.

"Note to self, oil the door hinges." She mumbled.

A young man warily peaked inside before opening the door fully and entering the guild hall. He had spiky black hair that was neatly swept back, with a few loose strands hanging down his face that fall to just above his brown eyes. He wore a long sleeved white jacket that was open to reveal his yellow shirt with blue jeans and black boots.

"Can I help you with something?" The woman at the bar called out her voice unsure.

"That depends, is this Howling Winds guild?" The young man asked.

"Well, technically yes. Officially we haven't begun operating as yet." The woman explained.

"I'm actually looking for Jagen Williams?" The young man explained.

"He isn't around. He's been gone for a while. If you're here to collect a debt or something like that you're going to have to take a number and wait your turn." The woman sighed.

"Actually, I'm his son." The young man revealed pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from his jacket. "He sent me this letter; he said he had something important to give me."

"I don't believe it." The woman exclaimed shocked.

In an instant, the woman disappeared from behind the bar and reappeared in front of the young man.

"So you're Merric, your father speaks about you often." She commented examining his face.

"How did you do that?" Merric asked.

"Teleportation magic." She answered staring at him. "You don't look like your father."

"That's because I take after my mother." Merric explained.

"Your father was expecting you here two weeks ago." The woman scolded before she teleported back to the bar.

"I kind of got side tracked." Merric confessed. "And who exactly are you?"

"My name is Katherine; I guess you can say I'm currently in charge." She replied.

"How exactly do you know my father? Are you and him… you know… dating…" Merric questioned.

"I'm too young to be your father's girlfriend." Katherine laughed heartily.

"Really?" Merric spoke.

"How old do you think I am?" Katherine raised an eyebrow.

"Thirty-…"

Merric never had a chance to finish his sentence as a plate came flying towards him. Merric reacted quickly and raised his hand, releasing a bolt of lightning shattering the incoming glass weapon.

"I'm twenty three!" Katherine huffed. "I'm been working so hard recently, it must be affecting my skin."

"So where's everyone else?" Merric asked trying to change the topic.

"There is no one else; I'm the only one here." Katherine answered.

"Wizard guilds tend to have more than one person." Merric stated.

"It's a lot harder for independent guilds to recruit members." Katherine added.

"A non registered guild with no members on the outskirts of town. That sounds exactly like a guild my father would create." Merric chuckled.

"Once you join, we'll have three members." Katherine pointed out.

"I didn't really come here to join; my father said he had something to give me." Merric explained.

"You know your father; he's not exactly the most responsible person around. It could be weeks, even months before he comes back. Until then you could join the guild, you don't have anything else going on do you?" Katherine inquired.

"You what, I'm always game for an adventure. I hear guilds are the place to find that." Merric relented.

"Great, where do you want your guild mark and what colour?" Katherine asked as she pulled out her stamp from behind the counter.

"Make it, yellow." Merric said rolling up his right sleeve as he walked towards her. "Forearm please."

"Your dad has his in the same place." Katherine smirked.

The guild mark was a patterned design of a wolf's head and gusts of wind beside it.

"So, what now?" Merric asked setting his sleeve.

"Now I put you to work." Katherine smiled as she handed Merric a stack of flyers. "Go around town passing those out, we need to start recruiting members."

"Yes ma'am." Merric sighed.

"Oh Merric, if you dump those flyers somewhere and go off gallivanting, I'll know." Katherine warned in her scariest tone.

"I wouldn't dare." Merric gulped as he set off.

XXXXX

There you have it, a sort of introduction to the story. I'm currently looking for OC's. If you want to submit an OC to the story please fill out the form and PM me. I'll get the next chapter up once I have enough OC's. Thank you in advance.

**Name:**

**Nickname:** If applicable

**Gender:**

**Age:** 14-25, try and keep it within that range.

**Appearance:** more detailed the better.

**Regular clothes:**

**Formal clothes:**

**Swimwear:**

**S-Class:** Would your OC enter S-class exams?

**Magic:** type with a short description of how spells are used, for example to attack, defence, support etc. Dragon, God, Devil slayers allowed but single element only. Non-slayers limited to two magic types.

**Spells:** Minimum 5 – Maximum 10. A description of the spell would be helpful.

**Personality:** an interesting personality would be good, the more interesting the more prominent in the story. Try to avoid making the character a Mary Sue or Marty-Stu.

**History:** background on your character, this will be used to write future story arcs and chapters.

**Guild mark:** Location and colour

**Weaknesses:**

**Strengths: **

**Relationship:** Is your OC interest in one? If yes, what kind of person would your OC like?

**Extra:** Any other information you want to include about your OC.

_**For Dragon Slayers**_

_**Exceed Name:**_

_**Exceed Appearance:**_

_**Exceed Personality: **_

_**Exceed Extra Information: **_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The sound of metal on metal caused the massive train to come to a screeching halt as it drew to a stop at Edelweiss Station. The clinking sound of the metal wheels making contact with the rail died away slow as the train stopped completely.

The loud horn sounded twice as the conductors set about opening the doors and allowing the passengers to jump off. As the main crowd moved off and the station was all but empty, a single annoyed conductor stood waiting to close the door to his carriage.

A fluffy gray Exceed, dressed in a blue hoodie and orange shorts, flew out. The Exceed was holding a flyer as well as carrying a bag. He seemed to be waiting on someone.

"Come on Faith, this is it. We're here." The Exceed called out excitedly.

"Slow down Kipper, you know how trains make me sick." A voice responded.

A young woman apprehensively exited the train holding onto her stomach as she stepped off. The slim yet curvy traveller managed to catch to the conductor's eye as she walked away, only for the conductor to earn a glare from the Exceed.

Catching her breath she set about tying her long pastel yellow hair into a ponytail that came to rest on her upper back. The amber eyed young woman wore a white halter top that showed her stomach and a red, high waisted skirt that flowed to above knee and with white roman sandals.

"Faith, it's chilly. You should put your hood on." Kipper said as he rummaged through the bag before tossing Faith a hooded red vest.

"I don't feel cold." Faith responded.

"Edelweiss City is known as the city of winds because of the different airstreams from the mountains that flow through it." Kipper explained.

"Fine, I'll put it on." Faith yielded putting on the red vest.

"Are you sure about this place?" Kipper asked as Faith took the bag and flyer from him.

Faith stared at the flyer which looked like it had been through a battle. "We were in Begonia Town; you were flying in the air causing mischief when this flyer flew into your face. I was just about to ask you if you wanted to join a guild when you came crashing into me with this."

"Maybe we would be better off joining a legal guild rather than an independent guild." Kipper suggested.

"Don't you know, independent guilds have more freedom? They don't have the council breathing down their necks." Faith responded. "Can I have my necklace now?"

"Normally you keep this very safe, why'd you give it to me today?" Kipper reached into his hoodie and pulled out a leather string necklace that had a sunset orange scale and a small dragons tooth on it.

"That train ride was pretty bumpy; I didn't want to mess it with my motion sickness." Faith said. "I'm still a little woozy, that's the price of travelling on the cheapest train available."

Kipper lifted his paw to hand back the necklace but as Faith reached out he quickly backed away.

"Kipper, what are you doing?" Faith asked.

"You've always been faster than me but after a train ride, I'm the faster one." Kipper boasted.

"Stop being so mischievous, my current state is only temporary remember." Faith reminded.

As Kipper reached up to hand the necklace to Faith a hooded figure ran between them, knocking down Kipper and pushing Faith aside. The person was clad in all back from head to toe.

"Just because you're in the city doesn't mean your manners go out the window!" Faith muttered.

"Faith, he grabbed your necklace!" Kipper shouted.

Without words, Faith took off running as Kipper activated Aera and flew after.

XXXXX

The second floor of the Howling Winds guild had several rooms; some still had beds and were reminiscent of how the place was when it was still an inn while the others were being used for storage.

Katherine had given Merric a single room in stay in while he found his feet in Edelweiss City. The temporary head of the guild had expected to get some work out of the young man but was left exasperated by the results.

"It's almost one o'clock and he still hasn't gotten up." Katherine muttered as she stared at Merric's door.

She knocked but got no response. Again she knocked but this time with more force and slight annoyance.

Not bothering to knock a third time she open the door determined to give the young man a piece of her mind. Whatever lecturer she had in mind went out the door when she opened the room.

Stacks of books and papers lay strewn across the room. The small desk that came in the room was covered in different maps and pens. The flyers that Merric was supposed to handing out were scattered around, he had been using the backs to scribble notes.

There on the single bed, wrapped in a blanket with a book over his head was Merric.

"Just look at him sleeping so peacefully. He must have spent all night reading." Katherine marvelled as she waved her hand.

Using minimal telekinesis she quickly pulled the blanket away, unravelling Merric and sending him crashing into the stack of books at his bed side.

"Ouch." Merric moaned as he picked himself up.

"You were supposed to be downstairs helping me five hours ago." Katherine scoffed.

"Five hours?" Merric muttered as he looked at his alarm clock. "This says its still 6am."

"That clock is not ticking." Katherine sighed.

"Huh, you're right." Merric replied examining the defective device.

"For a while I doubted whether you were Jagen's son but now I'm certain you are." Katherine complained. "So how's goes the recruitment process?"

"I handed out most of the flyers but the response has been lukewarm. Edelweiss is not a magical inclined city." Merric sighed.

"That's why your father choose this place. He said we could monopolise the work here." Katherine stated. "Where did all these books come from?"

"The room across the hall, these are my fathers." Merric yawned.

"Well, first you're going to clean up this room, then you're going to clean up yourself, then you're going to get back to looking for more members." Katherine stated. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah." Merric nodded.

"You better complete at least two of those or you're not getting dinner." Katherine added.

"What about breakfast and lunch?" Merric asked.

"You slept through those." Katherine pointed out.

XXXXX

Faith sprinted through the streets of Edelweiss giving chase to the thief who had snatched her necklace. She did her best to avoid people, ducking and weaving between them. Kipper flew overhead keeping track of the thief.

"It's like his a shadow." Faith cursed as pursued the thief.

Indeed the fleet footed chain snatcher did move like a shadow, light on his feet and agile beyond normal human limits. The thief snaked around a corner so swiftly it was as if he was part of the wall itself.

Faith skid on her tip toes as she tried to take the sharp turn and keep up but the blind corner turned out to be her downfall as she ran into someone. The impact of the collision saw Faith and the other person fall to the ground.

"Today is not my day." Merric moaned rubbing his hip.

"He's getting away!" Faith sprung up and ran when she saw Kipper waving frantically from the air.

"You should at least apologize when you knock someone over!" Merric yelled as he followed.

"I'm sorry okay; you don't have to follow me." Faith apologized as she glanced over her shoulder and saw Merric.

"You're forgiven but truthfully I'm more interested in that shadow." Merric admitted.

"You saw…" Faith paused as she jumped over shopping trolley. "…it?"

"It caught my eye around…" Merric responded as he copied Faith's leap. "The corner."

"He stole something important to me." Faith admitted as she cut across the street narrowly avoiding two carriages.

"Oh, so that shadows a th…" Merric wasn't so lucky and got clipped by the carriage tripping him.

Faith just gave Merric a glance but knew she couldn't afford to lose anymore ground so she continued running.

Merric picked himself up and covered his body in lightning effectively turning him into a living lightning bolt. "Lightning Boost!"

Faith continued to chase and felt as if she making ground as the thief came out of his shadow form and was now physical. She figured that he must have been running low on magic and was conserving it.

She wanted to resort to using magic to bring down the thief but knew as long as there were people around she couldn't unleash any of her strong spells without endangering anyone.

Her eyes lit up when she released that the shadow had turned onto an empty road with no one around to be hurt by excess fire. Faith gathered golden orange flames in her hand as slide to a stop so she could take aim and scorch the thief. The thief then reformed into a shadow on the ground.

"Faith! Dark alley up ahead!" Kipper screamed from above.

Faith hadn't gathered enough power, she needed a few seconds more but within those seconds she knew that the shadow would slip into the dark alley way and be lost to her. Before she could react a yellow flash of sparks blurred past her and put itself between the shadow and the alley way.

The bright sparks deterred the shadow away from the alley causing it to try and scurry across the road but now Faith was ready with her attack.

"Sun Dragons: Sun Flare Blast!" She called out as she threw the ball of flames and hit the shadow resulting in a burst of golden orange flames in the middle of the road.

Faith ran into the street and in the middle of the fading flames was her necklace.

"Did you kill him?" Kipper asked descending from the sky.

"No, the attack wasn't that strong. He must have ditched it; I guess he wasn't up for the trouble." Faith smirked. "Thanks for your help."

The sparks of lightning disappeared gradually as Merric approached Faith and Kipper. "No problem. Sucks we couldn't catch him."

"That's a pretty neat trick there mister." Kipper said.

"The names Merric, Merric Williams." Merric greeted.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kipper and this is Faith Greenfield." Kipper responded in kind.

Faith gave Merric a nod not really having anything more to say to the stranger.

"I should…" Merric mumbled before he keeled over.

"Are you alright?" Faith asked standing over Merric.

"I need to get back." Merric mumbled trying to get up.

"We'll help you." Kipper offered as Faith reluctantly agreed.

XXXXX

"I can't believe you collapsed in the middle of town because you were hungry. You're just as bad as your father." Katherine sighed as she placed another plate of rice in front of Merric. "I expected you to go to a restaurant or café if you were hungry."

Merric was sitting at one of the tables in the guild hall with Faith and Kipper.

"Using Lightning Boost kicks my whole body into overdrive, even my metabolism." Merric defended himself.

"Thank you for bringing him here." Katherine smiled at Faith and Kipper. "Are you sure I can't get you anything?"

"No thanks." Faith shook her head.

"We don't mean to be rude but we have somewhere we have to get to." Kipper explained.

"Oh, that's too bad. Again, thank you." Katherine replied.

Faith and Kipper got up and were on their way out as Katherine pulled out a larger piece of light grey material.

"When you're done eating I want you to hang this outside." Katherine said unravelling the banner to reveal the Howling Winds guild mark in white.

"That symbol!" Faith exclaimed before covering her mouth.

"This is Howling Winds guild?" Kipper asked as he pulled out the flyer from his hoodie.

"Yes, the one and only." Katherine stated.

"I thought this was an inn." Faith chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Merric asked as he ate a spoonful.

"Don't chew with your mouth open." Katherine scolded.

"We came to Edelweiss to look for Howling Winds, we want to join. This flyer reached us all the way in Begonia so we took it as a sign." Faith answered.

"I guess you did do a good job." Katherine complimented as she walked behind the bar counter and pulled out the guild stamp. "What colour do want your guild mark and where?"

Faith thought hard as she walked up to the bar counter. "Orange and on the back of my neck." She said as she moved her hair aside.

"Same for me." Kipper exclaimed removing his hoodie.

"This feels strange, being part of a guild at last." Faith remarked.

"I guess it's time for some proper introductions." Katherine spoke.

"Right, my name is Faith Greenfield, I'm 23 years old. My magic is Sun dragon slayer magic and this is my Exceed Kipper." Faith introduced loudly and formally.

"You already know me, Merric Williams, 19, I use lightning magic." Merric said.

"And I'm Katherine. I'm currently in charge until the current guild master, Merric's father returns." Katherine added.

"I have to say, you look so young considering you have a son Merric's age." Faith complimented.

To this Merric burst out laughing.

"Merric is not my son. I'm your age Faith, I'm twenty three." Katherine shrieked as she pulled out a palm mirror from behind the bar counter and began checking her face for wrinkles.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you." Faith tried to apologize.

"Just be glad she didn't send a plate flying at you." Merric commented.

XXXXX

The dimly lit streets of Laburnum Town offered little in way of shelter from the harsh winter snowfall that fell over the town. The only place that offered refuge for a person who had little to no money was a dingy 24/7 diner.

A young girl trudged through the snow and entered the small establishment to try and warm up. As she walked through the threshold she could instantly feel the difference. When she entered the diner and was not surprised that the inside matched the outside.

The windows were smudged and not well maintained. The pies left on the counter under glass domes appeared to be a few days old. The tables were made from cheap Formica tabletops with chips, scratches and names carved in them.

Behind the main counter was a gum-chewing waitress in a one-colour uniform holding a coffee pot and she was pretty much bored out of her mind.

Compared to the other more thug-like patrons, this young light brown haired girl with two short pigtails stuck out like a sore thumb. Dressed in only a light green shirt and jeans she shivered as she sat in a booth and watched the door.

The smell meat grilling made her stomach rumble but after examining her small purse she only had enough money for a cup of coffee.

The waitress poured the girl a small cup of filter coffee before returning to her station. The girl picked up the hot cup of coffee and took a sip before the sound of the door opening caught her attention.

Two brutish men entered the diner but only found an empty booth with a hot cup of coffee on it and no girl.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

I hope I did well on this chapter. Going forward I will try and introduce more OCs in chapters during this _Introduction Story Arc_.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, leave them in a review.

If you think I'm not portraying your OC's personality properly, let me know so I can improve on it.

OC submission:

All the OC's submitted so far (pre-23 Oct. 14) will appear in the first 9 chapters which is the _Introduction Story Arc_ (if everything goes according to plan).

I'm opening the OC submission again for characters that will appear from chapter 10 onwards. Use the form on chapter 1.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A hooded figure cut through the roads and back alley ways of Laburnum Town. It was almost dawn but the thick clouds over the town prevented the rising sun from illuminating the murky streets.

The hooded figure picked up pace as if he were being pursued by someone or something. Breaking into a sprint the hooded figure ran halfway into an alley before comprehending it was a dead end.

A sound made the hooded figure jump causing him to fire a flash of flames at some crates and broken garbage bins. He laughed when he realised that the floor was littered with empty liquor bottles and he had kicked one making that sound.

The sound of wind shuffling trash into corners and the clink of bottles rolling along the ground startled him again. Guardedly he watched his step as he turned to exit the alley being careful not to step on any shards of glass.

Even with his cautious steps he failed to notice a magic circle on the ground that was covered by ratty cardboard. Once his foot made contact with the magic circle it expanded and unleashed a potent gas into the air.

The hooded figure cupped his face as he tried to hold his breath and not inhale the colourless gas but it was too late, he had already inhaled some of the gas. As his consciousness began to escape him he saw the person who had been pursuing him enter the alley.

The hooded figure finally had a clear view on his pursuer and he was determined to make a mental note.

The man who had set the trap had blue eyes and blonde hair tied into a ponytail. The most distinct feature was an X-shaped scar on the middle of his face. That was all the hooded figure could see before he passed out.

"You're just a small fish in this cesspool. I'll leave you here for the Rune Knights." The blonde scoffed before walking out.

XXXXX

In the Howling Winds guild Katherine, Faith and Kipper were all up sorting out a few documents as the morning sun shined through the windows.

"Katherine, I was wondering what the commission was." Faith asked referring to the terms and conditions.

"Basically it's the guild's share of the reward money that you receive. The client pays over the reward to the guild and we keep our share and pay over the rest to you. It's a small amount, 5-10% depending on the job." Katherine explained.

"So that's how guilds manage to stay open." Kipper marvelled.

"It should be illegal to wake up this early." Merric yawned coming down the stairs.

"Good morning, nice of you to join us." Katherine greeted.

"Morning." Faith spoke in a hushed voice.

"I'm surprised you're up this early." Katherine noted.

"I wasn't supposed to be but for some reason my alarm clock was set an hour earlier than it should have been." Merric revealed.

"Really, that's a shame." Kipper snickered.

"Kipper, you didn't…" Faith scolded in a hushed tone.

"What's with all the paper work?" Merric asked noticing that Katherine was filing something.

"These are just Faye-Faye's papers, legal proof that she's part of our guild. She filled her details in this morning." Katherine answered.

"I don't even know where to start with that statement." Merric responded. "Where did you get Faye-Faye from?"

"It's my nick name that my friends call me." Faith spoke up.

"Katherine showed Faith the piano that's in storage!" Kipper exclaimed. "Now they're friends."

"Okay…" Merric nodded. "How come you didn't ask me to fill in those papers when I joined?"

"Your father prefilled a set for you before he left." Katherine held up Merric's documents.

"I should inspect those." Merric sighed as he walked over and took possession of the papers.

"So Faye-Faye, before Merric interrupted us, you were telling me about you being a dragon slayer." Katherine reminded.

"I was raised by the sun dragon Areos." Faith replied.

"Where's Areos now?" Katherine asked.

Faith just remained silent and didn't answer.

"She doesn't like to talk about it." Kipper revealed.

The atmosphere suddenly became rather sullen but the glumness was broken by Merric speaking up.

"Literally everything here is wrong except for my name." Merric muttered.

"I doubt he got that much wrong." Katherine replied.

"He got my birth date wrong." Merric countered.

"I'm sure he just got the day wrong because he wasn't there when you were born." Katherine thought out loud.

"Then how do explain the wrong month and year?" Merric sighed.

"You should fill a new set." Katherine relented.

"Why fill these in anyway?" Kipper asked.

"Recently there have been a lot of wizards going around claiming to be from guilds when they're not. This way we as Howling Winds have proof to who is a member of our guild and who is not." Katherine explained. "It was the one good idea Jagen had about running the guild."

"Jagen?" Faith asked.

"I'm sorry that I didn't give you any more details yesterday. Jagen is Merric's father and guild master. He's busy with something right now but should return in the coming months." Katherine explained.

"You never did explain how you know my father." Merric pointed out.

"That's a story for another day because right now you two have your first job." Katherine said.

"First official day and I already have a job." Faith smiled.

"You mean the three of us." Kipper huffed.

Katherine walked to the bar counter and pulled out an envelope from which she removed a photo and showed it to Merric and Faith.

"The job seems simple enough, go to Laburnum Town and find this girl." Katherine explained. "From what little information was on the job request, her father used to be a guild master of Lion Heart."

The photo was off a young girl with short light brown hair tied in two pigtails.

"She has blue eyes." Merric noted.

"Actually that's more of a teal shade." Faith corrected.

"Before you leave, there's something you should know." Katherine's voice crackled a little. "There is no reward for this job. This request had been circulating for a while now and no other guild has taken it because there's no reward."

"Is that girl in trouble? Does she need our help?" Merric asked to which Katherine nodded.

"If she needs help then we can forget about the reward for this one." Faith said to which Merric nodded.

"You should leave within the hour; Laburnum Town is a town with a bad reputation." Katherine warned.

XXXXX

The brown haired girl walked through the streets of Laburnum Town with her arms folded tightly trying to retain as much body heat as possible. After stopping at the diner and allowing herself to almost be caught she had been on the move ever since.

The gentle yet persistent snow fall did not help her situation. It was almost noon and yet the midday sun was not helping her to feel warmer. The large lacy pieces of snow fell leisurely as the wind pushed and dictated the movement. The wind picked up tearing the snowflakes apart, making the sky seem filled with snow crystals.

The girl's march through the city came to an abrupt end when she found her path blocked. Several men dressed in black hakama like hooded robes obstructed her. The robes had a bee symbol etched into the backs.

"Kori Delirose… You cannot run forever." One of the hooded men spoke up.

"Give up now and we'll make this painless." Another added.

"I'm not going anywhere with you Killer Bee scum." Kori huffed as her breath condensed into the cold air.

The hooded men began to inch closer. "You bring this on yourself."

"Earth shield!" Kori yelled as she raised her hands.

Instead of a wall of earth to act as a shield, a mound of rocks erupted from the road.

"These paved roads are going to make using your earth magic tough."

"Rock punch!" Kori smirked as she charged.

The broken stones from her failed Earth Shield split into smaller pieces and surround her fist as she punched her way through by knocking down one of the hooded men and using their overconfidence to flee. Be it arrogance or egotism, they had left large spaces in their ranks expecting Kori to be scared still.

The Killer Bee mages gave chase across the snow covered streets. In a town like this, where everyone minded their own business Kori was alone as she fled. Her sprint to safety came to an unexpected end as she slipped on black ice and was left sprawled out in the middle of the road.

Kori picked her head up and watched as the Killer Bee mages closed in. The hard fall had left her leg hurt and she knew she wasn't going to be able to run anymore.

Kori closed her eyes expecting pain but when it never came she looked up and saw dozens of small balls of golden orange fire keep the Killer Bee mages at bay.

"Sun Dragons Mullen Gatling gun!" Faith coughed as she finished spiting spheres of fire and came to Kori's side.

"Who are you?" Kori demanded to know.

"This is Faith and I'm Kipper. We're here to help you." Kipper answered arriving.

"Same hair, same eyes, she's the Lion Heart guild master's daughter." Faith confirmed looking at the picture.

"Who are these guys?" Kipper asked.

"Killer Bee, they're the dark guild that wiped out Lion Heart." Kori replied despondently as she picked herself up.

"It looks like we got to you just in time." Faith smiled.

"I don't think you and your cat will be enough for them." Kori gritted her teeth.

"Where's Merric?" Faith muttered.

"Sorry, I'm here. Slipped on some ice." Merric called out finally arriving. "What's up with the monks?"

"Dark guild, after Kori." Faith kept it short.

"So much for a simple job." Merric sighed taking off his jacket and draping it on Kori.

"I don't need your jacket!" Kori tossed it back at Merric.

"You're shivering." Merric threw it back on Kori. "Katherine will kill me if we brought you back with hypothermia."

"Merric, use your Lightning Boost and take Kori away from here. I'll cover you." Faith whispered.

"Why? We can fight." Merric replied in a hushed voice.

"This cloud cover means I can't absorb sunlight, I'm running on limited power." Faith explained quietly.

"Well I can't grab her while using Lightning Boost; I'll end up electrocuting her." Merric revealed.

"Some rescue party you turned out to be." Kori muttered.

"Guys, we're in trouble." Kipper pointed out as more Killer Bee mages showed up effectively surrounding them.

There were now Killer Bee mages in front of them and behind them.

"Kipper, you know what to do." Faith said.

"Right." Kipper activated Aera and grabbed Kori despite her protests.

The Exceed was only able to get Kori to the roof of a nearby building because of all her struggling. Merric gathered lighting around his fists as Faith gathered golden orange flames in her hands.

As the dark mages stepped forward two red magic circles activated under both groups releasing a column of fire from the ground, blasting several of them.

Merric and Faith were left startled by the sudden spell but with the dark mages in disarray, Merric and Faith made their move not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Lightning Hammer Fist." Merric created orbs of lightning around his fists and began punching his way through the dark mages who still stood after the fire blasts in front of them.

"Sun Dragons: Sun Flare Blast" Faith unleashed a ball of golden orange flames at a dark mages on the other side.

"It's him; it's the man with the scarred face!" One of the dark mages screamed. "Retreat, this entire place could be a trap!"

"This isn't over!"

"We'll get that girl one day!"

"You'll regret this."

To Merric and Faith's surprise the Killer Bee mages fled while shouting different things.

"What just happened?" Merric asked as his lightning faded away.

"I don't know but I think we should move around carefully. I heard them shout about traps." Faith warned.

"It's safe now. I've disabled my traps." A voice called out.

Merric and Faith looked towards the source of the voice. Going by appearance he must have been the man with the scarred face. He wore a long blue overcoat with a white shirt under it, greenish-gray pants and black shoes.

"Thank you, I think you scared them away." Merric said.

"You ruined my plans; I was setting up for a bigger trap but had to settle for those small ones because you three got in the way." The man with the scarred face scoffed.

"We didn't get in anyone's way. They were chasing me!" Kori exclaimed as Kipper brought her back.

"Well, whoever you are, you seem to have them running scared." Merric complimented.

"I am Raphael Falle." The man with the scarred face retorted. "They have good reason to be afraid; I've been picking them off one at a time over the last week."

"You two, why did you come here for me?" Kori asked looking at Merric and Faith.

"That was our job request; even though there was no reward we couldn't turn our back on a little girl in trouble. We're supposed to take you back to our guild." Faith explained.

"Yeah, ten year olds should not be running around this town alone." Merric said.

"I'm fourteen!" Kori yelled.

"I'm terrible with this whole age guessing thing." Merric sighed.

"This guild of yours, is there room for me there?" Kori asked.

"Yeah, there's plenty of room." Faith answered. "You don't have to join us if you don't want to."

"Ever since Lion Heart was wiped out I've been alone. You're the first people to come looking for me. I'm sure other guilds received that job but no one else bothered. I would like to join your guild." Kori explained.

"Katherine's going to be happy." Merric added.

"Then it's settled, we have a new member!" Kipper cheered.

"What about you Mr Sunshine, are you part of a guild?" Merric asked.

"Me? No but I'm in the process of searching for a guild that will one day help me achieve my goals." Raphael explained.

"Do you want to join ours?" Merric asked.

"Your recruitment method seems lax. Do you just go around asking anybody and everybody if they want to join your guild?" Raphael sneered.

"Actually he does." Faith admitted.

"He asked three people on the train ride here." Kipper added.

"I didn't hear a no." Merric shrugged.

"You don't even know me, how can you be sure that I will fit in at your guild." Raphael responded.

"You fight bad guys, that's good enough for me." Merric replied.

Faith, Kipper and Kori nodded in agreement.

"This guild, what's its name?" Raphael took a softer line on the matter.

The five then set off towards the train station with Faith trying to use her magic to warm up Kori and Merric explaining the guild to Raphael.

XXXXX

Katherine stepped out of the Howling Winds guild as the sun lowered beyond the horizon causing the colour spectrum of the sky to change to orange-red hues. The shadows cast by the setting sun grew in length as the light faded.

"The city will be overrun by shadows soon…" Katherine mumbled before retreating back into the guild.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

I've added a list of OCs and the creators name to my profile; it will be updated every week as the new OCs are introduced. If I've made a mistake on it, please let me. I have a lot of OCs and I hope I haven't made a mistake.

OC submission:

All the OC slots for Howling Winds are full for now but I need three OCs for a dark guild that will appear from chapter 10 onwards. Use the form on chapter 1 if you want to submit one.

If I received more than three OCs for the dark guild, the three best will be core members of the dark guild and others will just be members.

Dark Guild OC Rules: No slayers, No Blood Magic users, No OP villains


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

It was eerily silent in the Howling Winds guild hall. Raphael was sitting alone in the corner of the guild filling in his paperwork while keeping to himself. Faith and Kipper occupied their own table as the dragon slayer scolded her Exceed over some pranks he had attempted. Kori was at the bar counter as Katherine helped her fill in her guild papers.

"Just last night I got here and I'm already part of the guild." Kori marvelled.

"Have you decided about your guild mark?" Katherine asked.

"Hmmm, make it light brown and on the underside of my right arm." Kori replied holding out her arm.

The two were soon joined by Raphael.

"Make mine black and here." Raphael said pointing to his left cheek.

"Hmmm, you're 22… From Nordeneis Town… Everything seems to be in order Raphael." Katherine reviewed his papers before she set about giving the new members their guild mark.

"Faye-Faye, can you join us here." Katherine called out.

"Did you need something?" Faith asked joining everyone at the bar counter.

"We have another job today for all of you, this one is from the Mayor of Edelweiss so I don't need to explain how doing well here can lead to more jobs from the city." Katherine explained.

"I actually prefer to do jobs alone; I'm not really a team player." Raphael admitted.

"Me too, I like to be independent." Kori nodded.

"Well you don't have to work together. It would just be better if all three of you were working on it." Katherine sighed.

"Shouldn't we wait for Merric before you tell us about the job?" Faith asked.

"He has a cold." Katherine revealed.

"He spent like five minutes in the snow…" Raphael scoffed.

"Kori was there a lot longer but didn't get sick." Faith mumbled.

"I guess growing up in the mountains where it snows a lot really helped out when I was wandering through that town." Kori thought out loud.

"Can we get back to the job?" Raphael asked.

"As Faye-Faye already knows, Edelweiss has been experiencing a problem recently, a problem that has been going from city to city. A problem in the form of a thief with shadow magic. He's been mostly doing snatch and grab but now the mayor has put a price on capturing this thief." Katherine explained.

"Capturing a thief, no problem for my trap magic." Raphael smirked as he set off.

"It's payback time, let's go Kipper." Faith called as she ran out.

"Aren't you going to run out after them?" Katherine asked looking at Kori.

"I'm not sure my magic is going to be effective. There's not much earth around here." Kori explained.

"You don't have to go out if you don't feel up to it." Katherine replied.

"Thank you ma'am." Kori bowed.

"You don't have to call me ma'am." Katherine smiled.

"Sorry, I've just always called people over thirty ma'am or sir." Kori noted.

"Thirty…" Katherine mumbled completely dejected.

XXXXX

"If I was a thief using shadow magic where would I be?" Raphael pondered as he walked through the streets of Edelweiss.

People gave him a wide berth, mainly due to his uninviting scowl and scarred face. Raphael had gone out on this job but regretted not finding out more information from Faith. He valued knowledge highly but he valued being a loner higher.

As he walked the powerful scent of fresh brewed coffee assaulted his senses. He was not a fan of the caffeinated drink so the fact that he was near a coffee shop made him want to turn around.

But before he did the sound of a chrome espresso machine falling and an employee shouting caught his attention. "He's stealing my tip jar!"

The thief dashed into the street and avoided the crowds of people by becoming a shadow and going through their feet.

"Got you." Raphael muttered as he gave chase.

In theory, chasing a shadow through a busy street was difficult; in reality it was much harder. Raphael struggled to follow the shadow while trying to avoid people. It was impossible for him to cast a trap while running so his best bet was to follow.

The busy streets proved to be his downfall as he was unable to keep up with the shadow.

"Damn it!" Raphael cursed spinning on his heels trying to search for the shadow thief.

Then he saw it, across the street, a person stepping out of a shadow. It was a young man, probably younger than him.

The guy who stepped out of the shadow was a tall young man with fairly light skin and spiky honey-blonde hair. He was dressed in a leather jacket that had a fur collar as well as a white V-neck underneath and dark blue, denim jeans with black shoes to top off the rest of his outfit.

"I got you now." Raphael yelled running across the street.

"What?" The suspect asked confused he saw Raphael charging across the street.

"Your luck is about to run out today thief." Raphael stated as he spread his arms preparing to cast his traps.

"I'm not a thief anymore." The suspect retorted angrily.

"I don't know how you can say that after stealing that tip jar just now." Raphael accused.

"That wasn't me. My name is Sou Tsubaki. I just got to town now." The suspect tried to explain.

"Do I look like I was born yesterday?" Raphael scoffed. "I might have believed you if I didn't see that whole shadow thing."

"That's how I travel long distances. I use Shadow Devil's Movement." Sou said.

"I'm sure you do use that spell to travel long distances when you're not using it to rob people and flee in your shadow form." Raphael began preparing a spell.

"I think I understand the confusion here. I came to this town because I heard there was a shadow causing problems for people. This thief must be that shadow." Sou theorized.

"That's a nice story, too bad I don't believe you." Raphael sneered.

"I'm not this shadow thief that you think I am! I'm here to help!" Sou shouted.

"That's exactly what a shadow thief would say." Raphael countered.

"I came to this city to deal with its shadow problem." Sou continued.

"Just say I believe you, what's your reason for helping." Raphael questioned.

"Call it redemption for past mistakes." Sou answered.

"That answer is really vague, maybe you just can't come up with a good enough lie." Raphael taunted.

"Whatever, I don't have to stand here and take this." Sou retorted.

"You're not going anywhere; this is my first job for my new guild. I'm going to bring you in." Raphael declared.

"It looks like a fight is inevitable." Sou muttered gathering shadows around his fists.

Before the two could start fighting, people began rushing past them and running towards something.

"Someone managed to catch the shadow thief in the park, they're fighting there now!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

"I told you I wasn't the thief." Sou smirked as he followed the crowd.

"I'm not done with you yet." Raphael yelled as he followed.

XXXXX

Faith and Kipper patrolled the area just outside of the train station. They had encountered the shadow thief there once and were hoping he would return there. Since there was a train expected to arrive in a few minutes, they figured he would try and snatch something from someone who gets off the train.

"Kipper, I need you to be my eyes in the sky. Signal me if you see any suspicious shadows." Faith requested.

"You can count on me." Kipper saluted as he flew above the train station.

Faith paced around and kept a determined look as she scanned the area around her for any unusual shadows.

The train arrived on time and the passengers exited. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. Kipper flew overhead just shrugging as he didn't see anything. Faith continued to patrol around keeping an eye on the leaving passengers and the ground.

Faith let out a sigh as the train station emptied and no one was left behind. She began to wonder if her plan had any merits to begin with. Looking up at the sky she saw Kipper waving frantically.

The Exceed was pointing to the train. A shadow had just exited the train and was now trying to leave the train station. With Kipper's directions Faith was able to track down the mobile shadow and cut it off.

"I got you now." Faith said igniting her hands in flames. "Do you really think you're going to get away with your crimes?"

Two hands emerged from the shadow followed by the rest of the body. To Faith's surprise it was a young girl that emerged from the shadow.

The pale skinned young girl had white hair pulled back into a pony tail and purple eyes. She wore a dark gray long-sleeved shirt and black shorts that that just past her knees with black sneakers.

"I'm sorry; I didn't think I was hurting anybody." The girl said apologetically.

"Didn't think you were hurting anybody? You caused a lot of problems to a lot of people." Faith scolded.

"I would have bought a ticket but I was running low on cash. I didn't think it would be a big deal if I just hitched a ride in the luggage compartment." The girl tried to reason.

"You lost me." Faith mumbled. "What's your name kid?"

"Jinx Akuma." The girl responded.

"Sorry about this. Looking at you closer, you're too short to be the person who tried to rob me." Faith apologized.

"Now I'm lost." Jinx replied.

"Listen kid, there's a thief running around this town using shadow magic. It would be best if you didn't use that shadow move around people. They might think it's you." Faith explained.

"The person who tried to rob you, did you see his face?" Jinx questioned pleadingly.

"No, he ran fast and turned into a shadow before I could get a good look." Faith replied.

"Please tell me everything you know about this shadow thief." Jinx requested.

"I can't do that kid. My guild was assigned this job; I can't give another guild inside information so they can beat us to it." Faith responded.

"Firstly, stop calling me kid, I'm fifteen." Jinx exclaimed. "Secondly, I'm not from another guild. I came here because I think that shadow may be my brother. I just have to know."

Before Faith could respond Kipper swooped down.

"Faith, something is happening in the park. People are rushing there right now." Kipper yelled.

"Do you think it's the shadow thief?" Jinx asked.

"It could be." Faith mumbled.

"Please show me the way there. I have to find out if it's my brother." Jinx requested.

"Kipper, lead the way to the park." Faith resigned to helping Jinx.

XXXXX

Kori walked through Edelweiss Park with a dejected look on her face. She was carrying a bag of groceries and a small purse that Katherine had given her.

"Thirty… I can't believe I made Katherine upset by calling her old." Kori sighed as she sat on a bench next to a manicured flowerbed of daisies.

Kori had volunteered to buy some groceries as a way to apologize to Katherine. She was determined to get back on the current guild caretakers good graces.

The park was pretty much average with tall trees and well-tended bright green grass. There were park benches scattered all over the place, it was clear people had been moving them around. The only other people were an elderly couple who were feeding bread crumbs to pigeons.

Kori tucked her purse into the grocery bag and left it on the bench as she went to get a drink of water from a small fountain that was next to the bench. She fiddled with the lever but no water came out.

"Just my luc…" Kori muttered as she turned around and received a shock.

A man clad in all black was rummaging through her grocery bag. Going by the brief description she had received from Katherine this was the shadow thief that was currently plaguing Edelweiss City.

"Your face…" Kori muttered.

The thief's face beneath the hood was not visible, it was as if the hood was empty which terrified Kori but in reality shadow magic was being used to hide his face and make the hood seem empty.

"Leave those alone!" Kori screamed as it slowly dawned on her where she was.

There was no tar or paved roads to get in the way of her Earth Magic.

"Rock-it!" Kori shouted as she punched the ground causing a large rock pillar to erupt from under the bench, destroying it and sending her groceries flying through the air. "I missed."

The shadow thief had temporarily taken shadow form to avoid the attack but now he was back in solid form. Instead of the thief running away like Kori thought he would, he began approaching her.

As Kori backed away from the advancing shadow thief to give herself more time to think, people began to gather in the park. The elderly couple were surprisingly fast in running away and calling for help when they spotted the shadow thief.

To the shadow thief's surprise, several snake like shadows winded around his body constricting him and holding him in place. But true to his skill set he turned into a shadow and escaped.

"He got out of my Shadow bind…" Jinx muttered coming to Kori's side.

Faith cut through the crowd and extended her hand forward creating a golden magic circle. "Sun Dragons: Sun flare blitz." The golden magic circle unleashed dozens of golden-orange balls of fire.

The shadow thief dodged the attack by turning into a shadow but was forced further away from Kori and Jinx.

As the shadow thief backpedalled in his shadow form he activated a trap magic circle that had just been planted.

"Hidden Trap: Holy Light" Raphael called out as the circle grew and activated unleashing an immense explosion of light energy. The explosion of light energy caused the shadow thief to revert to physical form.

"Shadow Devil's Claw!" Sou shouted charging the shadow thief and surrounding his hand with shadow magic.

In one swift swiping motion Sou made contact and sent the shadow crashing into the tree tops.

"Damn it." Raphael cursed.

"He used my attack to help launch himself into those trees. He's going to disappear in all that shade." Sou berated himself.

XXXXX

"Then after Sou attacked the shadow thief, the thief got away but the crowd starting cheering for us." Kori finished explaining. "And that's why I don't have the groceries."

"Sounds like you all had quite a day that resulted in two potential members." Katherine replied.

"From what Faith has told me, this guild would be a good place to operate from as I search for my brother." Jinx nodded.

"I actually did want to join a guild and from I saw today, this guild could use my help." Sou shot a look at Raphael.

"At least I wasn't the one who helped the shadow thief get away." Raphael glared.

"Welcome Sou and Jinx, fill these in and I'll give you your guild marks afterwards." Katherine handed out the guild papers.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

OC submission:

Core members' slots for the dark guild have been filled but slots for normal members are open.

Dark Guild OC Rules: No slayers, No Blood Magic users, No OP villains


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Merric strolled down the stairs of the guild feeling refreshed and full of energy after resting the previous day. When he reached the bottom he found that there were two new faces in the guild.

"Miss one day and you guys go recruiting without me." Merric feigned hurt in his voice.

"You look well, almost too well." Katherine glared.

"Err…" Merric muttered.

"Colds usually take 2 to 3 days to clear up." Katherine said accusingly.

"Well you know what they say about lightning and colds." Merric laughed nervously.

"No I don't." Katherine responded.

"I see we've got another kid." Merric changed the topic walking past Jinx's table.

"I'm fifteen, and the name's Jinx Akuma, not kid." Jinx protested showing off her red guild mark on her right forearm.

"I'm Merric Williams and I'm nineteen." Merric responded trying to highlight the difference in age.

"Finally someone my age." Sou joined in the conversation when he heard nineteen.

"So you're also a new member." Merric responded.

"Official, I signed my papers and everything." Sou pulled his jacket aside and rolled back his short sleeve to show the black guild mark just below his right shoulder. "Sou Tsubaki, one half of team shadow."

"Team Shadow?" Merric tried not to sound confused.

"A two person team made of shadow magic users." Raphael explained from his corner.

"I use shadow magic and Sou is a Shadow devil slayer." Jinx explained. "The name is a work in progress."

"I can't argue with that logic." Merric nodded. "Where are Faith, Kipper and Kori?"

"Grocery shopping, yesterday's trip was interrupted." Katherine explained. "And speak of the devils."

Faith, Kipper and Kori walked into guild carrying bags of groceries.

"We got everything on the list and I didn't lose anything like yesterday." Kori greeted.

"There was no sign of the shadow thief today, looks like he might be laying low after yesterday." Faith added.

"Huh, that's a lot of stuff. How are we paying for all that? We haven't been paid for a single job as yet." Merric asked.

"That would be through your father's bank account." Katherine sighed.

"My father doesn't have a bank account; he literally kept his money under his mattress." Merric responded.

"Well, he changed in the years you were apart." Katherine explained.

"Katherine, do we have any new jobs?" Sou asked.

"You should really get a request board." Raphael suggested.

"That's on the list of things to buy. If everybody can gather around, I have an announcement to make." Katherine declared.

With no arguments or protests, the guild members gathered near the bar as Katherine had requested.

"The job to capture the shadow thief was not successful but it was not a failure. We can mark it down as on going." Katherine said.

"We would have completed it if someone didn't attack when he should have held back." Raphael muttered.

"I had to do something; it wasn't like your trap finished him off." Sou countered.

"Getting back on track." Katherine raised her voice with a stern look. "Edelweiss City has not been a magically inclined city in the past. That is one of the reasons why we haven't been experiencing a very welcoming feeling here but after that little display in the park, some people are warming up to us."

Katherine then held up a few sheets of paper.

"Are those job requests?" Jinx asked excited to get to work.

"Yes, not very difficult jobs but completing these will help earn the people's trust." Katherine answered.

"So we just get to pick which ones we want?" Sou asked.

"I'll let you people decide how you are going to split the jobs up." Katherine spread the jobs over the bar counter.

"Since I was here before anyone else, I think I should pick first." Merric spoke up.

"Not so fast, I have an errand for you to run before you can pick a job." Katherine pulled Merric aside.

"Really? An errand." Merric sighed.

"Hey, I didn't complain yesterday when I was making you chicken soup and checking up on you." Katherine retorted.

"Actually you did, a lot." Merric countered.

"Whatever, take these jewels and go to this tavern. I need you to pay your father's bar tab off before they start charging interest." Katherine handed Merric a bag of jewels and an address.

"I didn't know he started drinking." Merric mumbled.

"He doesn't." Katherine replied.

"Why do I have to pay a bar tab for a man who doesn't drink?" Merric questioned.

"The same reason why I have to pay a tobacco tab for a man who doesn't smoke." Katherine sighed.

XXXXX

Smooth, cheesy jazz music played on a loop from the broken jukebox creating a peaceful atmosphere. The layout of the bar was relatively simple, nothing special. There was one bar counter with four tables around the room. Clearly hygiene was not very important as some of the tables had dirty plates and glasses.

Behind the counter there were half empty hanging glass racks and dozens of different alcohol bottles.

The bar tender, who was a tall, bald man wearing a plaid shirt and black pants, wiped his counter clean, which was pointless because the rag was dirty.

There were three men sitting at one of the tables near the back talking. In an isolated corner of the bar there was an old, blonde waitress dressed in tight clothes passed out. The door to the bar slowly opened.

"Unbelievable, the inside is actually worse than the outside." Merric muttered as he walked into the bar.

"We don't serve kids here at the Easy Tap." The bartender said pointing to a sign that said something about the number 21 in a foreign language.

"Firstly, I can't read that." Merric responded walking up to the bartender and squinted to read his name tag. "Secondly Marv, I hope I'm saying that right, I'm not here to have a drink."

"Then why are you here? I know it's not because of our famous chilli." Marv stared Merric down.

"Who do I see about paying off a debt?" Merric asked.

"Gambling or drinking?" Marv replied.

"Drinking, I think." Merric responded.

"You'll have to talk to him but he is kind of busy right now. Wait a while, have some water on the house." Marv scoffed as he filled a glass from the tap and placed it in front of Merric.

"Thank you." Merric mumbled as he picked up the glass off pale grey liquid and stared at it. "I think there might be something swimming in there."

Marv ignored Merric and went back to wiping down the bar counter.

"Nope, I'm definitely sure that there's something swimming in there." Merric muttered.

Time seemed to pass by at a snail's pace in the seedy bar. Merric had nothing to do except trying to figure out what was swimming in his glass.

The atmosphere in the room changed when the doors swung open forcefully. A young woman marched into bar with an amble of swagger. All the men in bar turned towards her to get a good look.

In the dimly lit bar her golden eyes were somewhat lost but not her hair. Her long, curly bright red hair stood out. It was kept in two low pigtails tied with black ribbon and bangs left out to frame her face. The pale skinned woman wore a loose white t-shirt with black sleeves under a dark brown leather jacket with the collar flipped as well as light blue denim jeans and brown boots.

Her confident swagger quickly disappeared when she saw the state of the bar. "How unhygienic." Taking a deep breath she composed herself but was not fooling anybody.

"Well hello there little lady, welcome." Marv smirked as he eyed her. "Sorry but I'm going to have to ask for some ID, maybe a phone number as well."

"I can assure you that I'm 21." She replied.

"In that case, how's about a drink on the house?" Marv offered.

"I would but those glasses don't look like they've been washed in a long time." She replied walking towards the bar counter.

"Have a seat and I'll get a clean glass." Marv offered.

She pulled out a napkin from her pocket and placed it on the bar stool before she sat. She kept care not touch the bar counter as she sat still. Marv placed a clean glass in front of her and poured a shot of brandy.

"So what's your name sweetheart?" Marv tried his to act suave.

She reached into her jacket and pulled out a queen of spades card. "My name is Alaska Gwynn but some people call me the Ice Queen."

"Huh, you know, that sounds awfully familiar." Marv nodded. "What brings you here?"

"I want answers and I want them now." Alaska's expression changed to a darker one.

Marv tried to reach for a weapon behind the bar counter but it was too late. The queen of spades card in Alaska's hand started glowing blue.

Alaska sprung up from her seat and waved her hand creating and unleashing shards of ice at Marv. The razor sharp pieces of ice pegged him to the wall by pinning his clothes to it.

The three men in the back sprung to their feet but Alaska spun on heels and unleashed a similar wave of ice, pinning them to the wall just behind them.

"What do you want?" Marv questioned.

"I want to know where he is! Tell me now." Alaska demanded to know pulling a large sketch drawing of a young man. "Where is Cameron?"

"I don't know who that drawing is off but you pinned Cameron to the wall there." Marv replied.

"That's not my brother, that's not my Cameron." Alaska gritted her teeth.

"I don't know what you've been told but that's the only Cameron I know in Edelweiss, he owns this bar." Marv said.

"Damn it, that rat sold me bad information." Alaska dropped her head into her hands.

"On your left." Merric spoke up.

Alaska was a bit surprised but reacted quickly when she realised that the waitress who passed out was now awake and attacking her with a serving tray. Alaska was still a little shaken by being tricked in coming here but managed to dodge the sloppy attacks.

"I think you have worms in water." Merric said getting up and swirling the water around in his cup. "Here, see."

Before the waitress could continue her attack she was bombard with water to her face. The cold liquid caused her to stumble and trip over a table.

"There seems to be some misunderstanding here, clearly she was very emotional when she came in here so let's not let things escalate from here. I'm sure she's sorry." Merric stated.

"I'm sorry about the ice attack." Alaska apologized. "I got ahead of myself."

"Here, this should cover Jagen Williams tab." Merric laughed uncomfortably as he ran over and placed the bag off jewels on the table that Cameron and his two associates were sitting at.

"Thanks for your help…" Alaska said as Merric dashed past her on his way out.

"The name's Merric and I think we should get out of here." Merric replied holding the door.

Alaska didn't need a second invitation as she sprinted out.

XXXXX

"What were you doing here old man?" Katherine sighed as she stood outside the tobacco store which from the exterior decoration looked like a voodoo store.

Katherine pushed open the door, causing the bell attached to it to chime. As she passed the threshold her nose twitched as it was assaulted by the wide variety of scents. The scent of herbs, musty roots and a mouldy dark fungus combined to overpower her sense of smell. Instinctively she reached up and covered her nose.

"Relax, breath through your mouth, that way you wouldn't pass out. The smell can be overpowering for new people." A calm voice called out.

The dimly lit and smoky store didn't help her to see the person but she needed to pay off the debt so she ventured further in. Passing racks of dried flowers she was careful not to walk into any of the herbs that were hanging from the roof.

"Are you the owner?" Katherine asked as she squinted.

"No, sorry about the lights, I like to smoke in the dark." The voice replied.

With the click of a switch the store was lit up, the light wasn't very bright but it did illuminate things enough to see.

Sitting in the back of the store was a tall, lean light brown skinned young man with black dreadlocks that fell to his shoulders. His eyes were a pinkish-red colour in the irises. The 21 year old wore a gold and black patterned green dashiki with loose, baggy white pants and brown leather sandals.

"My name is Damone Kemuri; I'm just another customer like you." He introduced.

"Good day, I'm Katherine and I'm not another customer." Katherine responded.

"You don't have to feel shy, it's cool. I don't judge. A lot of older woman smoke these days." Damone smiled. "This place is great; the owner uses all these herbs and stuff to make the best smokes in Fiore."

The shelves with glass jars filled with mysterious substances began to rattle as the shop seemed to quake slightly.

"Whoa, are we having an earthquake?" Damone muttered as he got up to make sure none of the glass jars fell.

"Sorry, I got flustered for a minute." Katherine apologized as the quake stopped.

"You should relax, you look much stressed. I adopt a no worries attitude to life, you should try that. Don't sweat the small stuff." Damone noted.

"My stress stems from running a guild, so I don't have time for no worries." Katherine countered.

"A guild… I've been thinking about joining a guild. It beats sitting around all day smoking, well technically I would still be smoking but in a guild I would be doing it to help people and get paid." Damone smirked.

"How would smoking help people?" Katherine asked.

"I'm a second generation smoke dragon slayer, smoking fuels my power without damaging my health." Damone explained.

"That's really interesting." Katherine replied. "Just so you know, I'm from the Howling Winds guild; we have space for new members."

"I'd like to check out your guild." Damone nodded.

"Once I'm done paying off the owner you can come back with me." Katherine said.

"He should be back within the next ten minutes." Damone revealed.

"If you don't mind, I'll be outside getting some fresh air." Katherine exhaled deeply.

"I'll wait with you." Damone chimed as he grabbed his red, yellow and green horizontally striped beanie.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Katherine stood at her usual spot near the bar counter in the guild as she prepared to make the morning announcements. Yesterday she had given everyone a chance to take up simple jobs and they proved themselves by completing the jobs with relative ease.

"Firstly, for those of you who haven't noticed, we have two new members." Katherine said.

Damone and Alaska did their best to smile with all eyes on them.

"Secondly, I just wanted to say good job to everyone on completing their jobs yesterday." Katherine continued. "You all did great in building up public relations despite some trying their best to make enemies."

"The bar was not my fault." Merric mumbled.

"I have to accept responsibility for that. I got ahead of myself on a bad tip off." Alaska raised her hand.

"Don't beat yourself up; I'm also searching for my brother so I know that it's easy to let your emotions get the best of you." Jinx spoke.

"Well, I don't have any more announcements. I'll leave the jobs requests on the bar counter, you can decided amongst yourselves again." Katherine said before going upstairs.

Raphael and Sou went to the bar first trying to find the best job available. In a repeat of what happened yesterday they both grabbed the same request.

"So we're doing this dance again?" Sou muttered.

"You don't learn do you?" Raphael scoffed.

"Settle this like yesterday?" Sou questioned.

"It is the only fair and honourable way." Raphael replied feeling confident after winning yesterday.

"_Rock, paper, scissors"_

"Yes!" Sou exclaimed victorious.

"Impressive that someone like you saw through my plan." Raphael admitted defeat.

"I had a gut feeling you would throw rock again." Sou smirked.

With Sou and Raphael gone, Faith and Kori went through the jobs. The events of yesterday taught everyone that unless they wanted to get involved in the budding rivalry they better stand aside until the game was done.

"So Kori, do you want to go on a job with me today?" Faith asked.

"Only if you promise to make Kipper behave, I didn't like that prank he tried to pull." Kori replied.

"Kipper, what did I tell you about pulling pranks?" Faith shot the Exceed a look of disappointment.

"Sorry Faith, I'll behave today." Kipper crossed his paw over his heart.

At a table in the guild Alaska was sitting with Merric, apologizing for getting him in trouble with Katherine.

"Hi, do you want to go on a job together?" Jinx asked walking up to Alaska.

"What about your partner?" Alaska responded.

"He seems to have forgotten about me in his little rivalry." Jinx sighed.

"I'll be happy to go on a job with you." Alaska smiled.

"I didn't catch it yesterday but how old are you?" Jinx asked.

"I'm twenty one." Alaska answered. "I didn't lie at the bar."

"Hey, that's the same age as me." Damone spoke taking a step back into the guild. He was standing outside to have a smoke.

"NO SMOKING in the guild hall." Katherine's voice rang from upstairs.

"Sorry." Damone shouted and stepped back out.

"How does she do that?" Jinx marvelled.

"I think she may be psychic or something like that." Merric theorized.

"A word of advice Alaska, don't mention age around Katherine." Jinx whispered.

"I've heard." Alaska chuckled.

"Oh, did you get your guild mark?" Jinx asked.

"Yeah." Alaska responded showing off the gold guild mark on her right wrist, underneath her white sweatband.

"Huh, I'm just noticing this now but you have tattoos on your left hand." Merric pointed out.

"Cool, can I see?" Jinx exclaimed.

"They relate to my magic, royal magic which is like card magic." Alaska showed Jinx her hand.

She had four tattoos, one on each knuckle on her left hand representing the suits of a deck. The spade, the heart, the club, and the diamond. The spade and club were solid black, but the heart and diamond were just outlines of the shapes in black.

Jinx and Alaska then went to pick a job leaving Merric at his table.

"Ah man, did I miss it. I wanted to show my guild mark off too." Damone said walking by the table.

"You can show me." Merric sighed.

"Check it out." Damone turned around and lifted his dashiki to show the red guild mark located between his shoulder blades. "Awesome right, where's your?"

Merric pulled back his jacket sleeve to reveal the black guild mark on his right forearm.

"Since most of the others paired up to do a job, how about we do?" Damone asked.

"Can't, Katherine is going out today and someone has to hold down the fort. Apparently we had visitors yesterday when no one was around." Merric revealed.

"By visitors you're talking about the broken window." Damone looked to the window in question which was currently covered by plastic.

"Luckily the alarm spell went off and the person didn't make it inside." Merric said. "We don't know if someone was trying to break in or some kids broke it by accident."

"Well, good luck with house sitting my friend." Damone waved as he went to select a job.

"Merric, thanks for agreeing to stay here today. I still have more bills to pay and a meeting with the mayor." Katherine smiled as he rushed downstairs and out of the guild.

Once alone Merric transferred his huge collection of books from his bedroom to the guildhall and continued his reading.

XXXXX

Alaska and Jinx had taken a job that involved sorting out books at the Edelweiss Library. Specifically the sorting off books that dealt with magic. A shipment of magic books had just come in and the less than magically inclined staff members were somewhat uneasy about dealing with the books.

When Alaska and Jinx arrived at the large building they found it was filled with shelves upon shelves all containing different books. There were colourful paperbacks, tomes, dictionaries and encyclopaedias mostly.

The two were on the far end of the library and had several shelves to fill with the books and a system to follow while cataloguing the books.

"The only good thing about this place is the smell of crisp paper." Alaska said as she pulled out tissues and began dusting off the books.

"Dusting the books is not part of our job description." Jinx noted.

"Sorry, I'm an absolute clean freak." Alaska apologized.

"It's alright; I suppose cleaning the books is an implied condition." Jinx replied as she copied Alaska.

"Hey you there, I want whatever books you have on fire magic." A voice called out.

The person in question had midnight black hair tied in a fishtail that fell on her mid back. Her bangs that were swept to the side had streaks of red, blue, silver and green. The pale skinned blue eyed girl wore a blue mini jacket over a white shirt with blue frill skirt and white knee high stockings, blue boots. On her hands she had blue leather fingerless gloves.

"I'm sorry?" Jinx responded.

"I don't know how much clearer I can be. I want books on fire magic." The girl said.

"You're going to have to come back another day." Alaska said.

"I just got in from Hargeon today and have to take a train back later. I can't come back another day." The girl retorted.

"Listen up…" Jinx paused.

"Elizabeth Fiore." The girl said picking up on what Jinx was wanting.

"I'm Jinx and this is Alaska." Jinx introduced. "Listen up Eli, I was taught to be respectful to others and your tone is anything but."

"I apologize Alaska; I should be respectful to my elders." Elizabeth apologized.

"What about me?" Jinx asked.

"How old are you?" Elizabeth replied.

"15." Jinx answered.

"Well, I'm 16; you should be respectful to your elders." Elizabeth smirked.

"Let's calm down." Alaska spoke up. "No need to allow things to escalate beyond this."

"So why can't I have any books on fire magic." Elizabeth asked.

"Because I said so Eli." Jinx smirked this time.

"Actually, we're in the process of sorting out the books and cataloguing them." Alaska explained. "We're from a wizard guild and this is our job."

"How long do you think it will take you to do all this?" Elizabeth questioned.

"The entire day." Jinx said.

"If I help you we'll be able to get it done faster." Elizabeth sighed.

"This is our job, we couldn't ask you to help us." Alaska responded.

"You're not asking, I'm offering." Elizabeth corrected joining them.

"If you're trying to worm your way into the reward, too bad, it's already been paid to our guild." Jinx revealed.

"I don't want your money. I just want books on fire magic." Elizabeth retorted.

"Why are you so hung up on fire magic books?" Alaska asked.

"It's not something I share with strangers." Elizabeth shook her head.

"Do you want the books or not?" Jinx stared.

"My father was an earth and fire mage. I haven't seen him in years; I don't even know where he is. I want to learn earth and fire magic because of him, starting with fire." Elizabeth spoke.

"If we work hard and don't take many breaks, we can get everything ready and you can borrow the books you want." Alaska said.

"So what guild are you guys from? I was under the impression that Edelweiss didn't have any." Elizabeth inquired.

Thus began Alaska explaining about the Howling Winds guild, everything that she had heard from the other members since she joined.

XXXXX

The Edelweiss City museum was one of the larger building in the city, being a good tourist attraction, the Victorian style building was always kept in its best possible condition.

Damone sighed as tucked away all his cigarettes into a brown leather pouch on the waist of his pants when he saw a large no smoking sign at the entrance of the museum. Since he was taking a job at the museum, he had to abide by their rules.

Taking a walk into the museum, he noticed that the museum was highly devoted to the artistic history of Edelweiss. Which made sense since it was art that put the city on the map. Artefacts and relics that detailed the history of the city were displayed in glass cases scattered around the museum while the walls were adorned with paintings.

"Let's see my job is to meet up with the curator and transport something for her." Damone mumbled as he began looking for the curator.

The curator was an elderly brown haired woman in her fifties wearing a grey pantsuit.

"Hi, Madam Curator, I'm from Howling Winds." Damone introduced himself.

"Hmmm, let me see the request." The curator asked.

Damone produced the job request and handed it to the curator. She pulled out a pair of modified gale force glasses and examined the request.

"Thank you, this is my signature here. I have some business to take care of first, paper work to fill out. If you would wait right here, I'll be back now." The curator requested.

Damone just nodded as he wandered around the area checking out the different displays. He wandered over to a display that featured a palette and a brush. He stared at the display unsure of its importance.

As Damone stared at the display he was soon joined by another museum visitor.

She had long, frizzy, dark auburn hair and freckled cheeks. She had on a worn out brown jacket over her dark blue short sleeved, button-up shirt with blue jeans and simple looking light brown shoes.

"I don't get, what are these supposed to be?" Damone asked trying to make polite conversation.

"These are supposed to be the palette and paint brush of Edelweiss's first famous artist. Historically, there's no evidence to suggest they are but some locals believe it." She answered.

"You sure know your history." Damone complemented.

"Most sixteen year olds aren't interested in the past but I find it fascinating. I'm Julia Garus by the way." She introduced.

"Damone Kemuri, nice to meet you." Damone responded.

"I know this may be a strange question but you didn't hear about something called the Sapphire of Tormire around town?" Julia asked.

"No but then again I haven't been here that long. I'm sure Katherine would know if there's something like that around here." Damone thought out loud.

"Who's Katherine?" Julia replied.

"Katherine is my guild's current leader." Damone explained.

"I didn't know Edelweiss had a guild." Julia replied.

"The guild is new so it's not really that well known." Damone stated.

Damone then took a walk as he examined more of the art that was hanging on the walls on the other side of the room. As Julia read the plague detailing the history of the palette a museum employee was walking by with what looked a very old clay pot. The employee, not being the most nimble man in the world, managed to stumble over his own feet.

As he fell to the ground the clay pot went flying out of his hand. Julia was just close enough to try and dive and hopefully catch it. She would have to stretch her back to make the catch but as a self declared history geek, it was a duty to conserve history.

Diving and arching her back to make up for the distance she needed to cover, she managed to catch the clay pot before it smashed into the floor.

"I did it." Julia winced in pain as an old back injury sent shockwaves through her body.

"Are you alright?" The employee asked kneeling down beside her.

"Take this…" Julia handed him the clay pot while remaining on ground.

"You don't look very well." Damone said rushing over. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise what was happening till you were already on the ground."

"My back, it's just an old injury acting up." Julia explained.

"Is there a hospital nearby?" Damone asked the employee.

"I'm fine." Julia protested.

"You don't look fine." Damone responded.

"The hospital is private and expensive but free clinic is pretty busy. They only take life or death situations as emergencies." The employee explained.

"And this isn't a life or death situation." Julia mumbled.

"You can come with me to our guild infirmary." Damone said. "Well technically it was a store room that just got converted into an infirmary."

"I couldn't impose." Julia mumbled.

"Please explain to the curator that this was an emergency and that I'll be back as soon as I can to complete the job." Damone requested as he helped Julia stand.

"She saved my job and this piece of history. I'll make sure madam curator understands." The employee nodded

XXXXX

In the Howling Winds guild hall Merric placed the guild forms in front of Elizabeth along with a cup of coffee.

"Thank you." Elizabeth replied before she could start reading the papers. "Do you normally offer people coffee or is this like a bribe to get me to join?"

"No, Yes, I don't know. This really isn't my job." Merric sighed.

"What do you do here?" Elizabeth asked "When I came in it looked like you were lounging around."

"I'm part of the guild, I go out on jobs, and it just so happens that today's my day off." Merric responded defensively.

At another table in the hall Alaska, Damone and Julia sat together as Julia filled in the guild forms.

"How's your back?" Alaska asked.

"Much better thanks to you." Julia replied.

"I'm not amazing at healing abilities, but I know the basics of medical care." Alaska said.

"You really helped us. I felt so ridiculous; I brought Julia here when we had no one here who had any experience in medical care. I'm glad you finished your job early." Damone stated.

"We only finished our job early because we had Elizabeth help us. It turns out she was looking for a guild to join and she liked ours so we brought her here." Alaska explained.

"I should thank her as well then." Julia noted.

"So why did you decide to join us?" Alaska asked.

"When Damone brought me here I couldn't help but notice all the books that Merric had with him. There were some rare volumes and editions. He told me they belonged to the guild. Joining the guild will give a chance to find out more on the Sapphire of Tormire." Julia revealed.

"When I treated you earlier I could have sworn your eyes were yellow-orange but now they're pale blue." Alaska noted.

"During the day my eyes are a yellow orange, during the night my eyes are pale blue. It's because during the day I can only use solar magic and at night I can only use lunar magic." Julia revealed.

"Where do you want your guild marks?" Merric asked as he tried to figure out how to use the guild stamp.

"Left forearm, yellow orange." Julia spoke up.

"I want mine blue just above my elbow." Elizabeth said. "Alaska told me about someone named Katherine; I think we should wait for her for guild marks."

"You're probably right." Merric sighed.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

I apologize for the delay in updating, lost track of my days.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Bright flashes of lightning lit up the gloomy sky before the reverberation of deafening thunder resounded through the guild hall as the sound waves from the lightning reached the Howling Winds.

With each crash of lightning and the consequential thunder drum Faith shuddered as Kori and Kipper kept her company. The sun dragon slayer did her best to hide it but her fear of thunder was brought out with each boom. Merric's presence didn't help as he tried to explain the cause of thunder.

The heavy winds of the raging storm caused the rain to fall in an angle pinging against the windows. Luckily the broken window had been repaired the previous day. The ever changing wind direction caused the rain to alternate from rattling the windows to pounding on the roof.

Raphael sat in his corner table with a scowl on his face irked by his new 'friend'. The lonely corner table was where Raphael would sit and look outside as well as in since it was the next to a window. Damone sighed heavily as he clutched his leather pouch, there was no smoking inside and the downpour was too heavy to smoke outside. The smoke dragon slayer, wanting to look outside, took it upon himself to join Raphael and tell the trap mage his life story.

The fluctuating noise volume from outside did nothing to affect the mood inside as heavier bands of rain and wind passed by. The frostiness brought on by the out of season storm seemed to seep in through the walls giving the guild itself an icy feel.

Alaska shuffled a pack of regular cards, throwing in overhands, riffles and weaves to confound and confuse Julia and Elizabeth. A simple game of cards to pass the time in this storm had grown to Julia and Elizabeth repeatedly challenging Alaska determined to figure out what trick she was using to continuously win.

The slow, wrenching creak of a tree breaking under the force of gale force winds followed by the sound of it crashing outside the guild let everyone know that the storm was indeed a threat. The intermittent flickering of lights meant that everyone was prepared if the lights were to go out.

Jinx and Sou sat together scribbling and jotting down ideas for possible team manoeuvres they could use during jobs. Despite them both being shadow users, coming up with a strategy which utilised their skills and strengths while covering their weakness proved difficult.

Katherine came down stairs with a disappointed look on her face; taking her usual spot near the bar she tried coughing to catch everyone's attention. With the noise of the storm outside, she wasn't able to get the attention.

With a wave of her hand, she rocked every table with telekinesis which proved more effective in getting the desired result.

"Sorry everyone, my voice is a little sore." Katherine apologized.

"How did your meeting with the mayor go, you got back late." Jinx asked.

"It turned into a marathon screaming contest with the municipal councillors. Some of them don't support having a wizard guild in town." Katherine revealed.

"The fools, they need us more than they realise. They think one shadow thief is bad, imagine an entire town over run by dark mages." Raphael scoffed.

"They'll come around man; I made some friends at the museum yesterday. The curator said if she ever needed something she'd come to the guild again." Damone smirked.

"I wish we took the museum job, our job turned out to be retrieving a runaway cat." Kori sighed.

"It wasn't a complete loss, you found a girlfriend for Kipper." Merric teased.

"Faith, he's teasing me!" Kipper complained.

"I know you've been messing with my alarm clock." Merric muttered.

A loud crash of thunder stifled Faith's response and resulted in her just nodding.

"I have some bad news, given this weather and reports that's it's only going to worsen, I can't authorise anyone to go out on jobs today, I'm sorry." Katherine announced.

This was met with murmurs and groans.

"It's my first day here; I really wanted to start things off with a successful job." Elizabeth complained.

"I was hoping I could take a job and use the proceeds to pay you back for everything you did for me yesterday." Julia added.

"Come on Katherine, a little rain like this can't stop us." Sou declared.

"I know you don't want to be cooped up in here but it's dangerous out there." Katherine replied.

"Katherine is right." Alaska spoke up. "This storm is very intense; it's dangerous to you and the client. As guild wizards we shouldn't be putting client's lives' in danger."

"She's right." Raphael agreed. "In this kind of weather, people would stay home."

"Then it's decided, we'll all stay till at least things become safer." Katherine clasped her hands together relieved that they didn't protest as much as she thought they would.

"Yes, the day off!" Merric cheered.

"Day off? Didn't you also have yesterday off as well?" Elizabeth asked.

"Actually Merric, I need you to go the post office and get this letter stamp and posted. It's a report to the magic council. I doubt it will leave today but if it's dated today, the council can't complain." Katherine said pulling out an umbrella and sealed envelope from behind the bar counter.

"I thought independent guilds didn't have to report to the magic council." Faith spoke up.

"We don't but this report is out of courtesy. It is based on our encounters with the shadow thief." Katherine explained.

"And I'm the person that's best suited to deliver it? What happened to the storm being dangerous?" Merric asked.

"Elizabeth did have a point, you didn't do anything yesterday, and you can use the exercise. Besides, if you get struck by lightning you'll be fine." Katherine smiled as wrapped the envelope in plastic.

"I can go if you're not feeling up to it, I can shadow through the storm." Sou suggested.

"I can do the same!" Jinx exclaimed.

"See, we have some brave volunteers." Merric replied.

"Ahem, Mr One Day Cold…" Katherine coughed.

"Thanks for the offer but we wouldn't want anyone mistaking you for the shadow thief." Merric tuned changed as he tucked the letter into his jacket and grabbed the umbrella. "Really, a pink umbrella."

"It's the only one I have. Good luck." Katherine waved as Merric expanded the umbrella and stepped out into the storm.

Once the door closed Alaska walked up to the bar.

"This may be none of my business but from what I hear, you're kind of strict with Merric. Are you still angry about the bar incident?" Alaska asked.

"No, I was strict with him before that. It's not that I want to be unfair or bully him. Merric is Jagen's son and I know Jagen. Jagen is going to push his responsibility onto Merric one day and I want him to able to handle it when it happens." Katherine confessed. "The strongest steel is forged by the harshest fires or something like that."

"I thought you were mean but you're actually really caring." Julia remarked joining them.

"Breaks over, deal the cards, I'm winning this time." Elizabeth chimed in.

As they played Katherine pulled the guild stamp to give the new girls their guild marks.

XXXXX

Since no one was going out on any jobs while the weather was coming down hard, most of the guild members retreated to their rooms leaving only Julia and Elizabeth in the guild hall.

"Let's see. Alaska did it like this; she split the deck in half and then just riffled them together." Elizabeth said.

"Why don't you try it if it's that easy?" Julia suggested.

Elizabeth tried the flamboyant card shuffling trick but it only resulted in her spraying the cards across the table.

"Not a word." Elizabeth moaned.

"I know when to keep my mouth shut." Julia mimicked zipping her lips.

"I guess we don't stand a chance of beating Alaska at her own game." Elizabeth relented.

"At least we didn't lose any money playing." Julia looked on the bright side. "But we did bet to cover her guild choirs…"

As the two new members sat together contemplating what to do next there came a loud banging from the door.

"Merric is back so soon." Julia mumbled looking at the guild clock.

"He probably gave up halfway." Elizabeth theorised.

The banging continued on the door getting louder.

"I think he wants someone to open it." Julia sighed.

"I got it." Elizabeth said getting up.

Elizabeth walked over to the main door and opened it expecting to see Merric but was left surprised when she saw someone new.

Standing in the door way was a sopping wet, pale skinned young woman. Her long dark gray hair was soaked and the bangs that fell over her face almost covered her dark red eyes. The 17 year old wore a white tank-top with a gray rose design that had black ruffles with a red mini skirt held by a black belt around it and black slouch boots. Her clothes were drenched and clinging to her skin revealing her skinny figure.

"I'm sorry; I was caught in the storm and had nowhere else to go. Your inn was the closest building around." She coughed.

"Come in." Elizabeth replied startled. "Julia, get Katherine."

Elizabeth guided the soaked girl in, unsure where to lead her.

"What's your name?" Elizabeth asked.

"Caitria…" The girl mumbled.

"What's going on…" Katherine stopped speaking when she saw Caitria.

Caitria was shivering uncontrollably but trying her best to act like nothing was wrong. Katherine then disappeared and reappearing carrying some towels.

"You're quaking." Katherine noted as she tightly wrapped a towel around Caitria. "Come on, we have to get you out of those clothes. You can have a shower upstairs."

"I don't have any other clothes." Caitria confessed. "The storm blew my bag away."

"Julia?" Elizabeth?" Katherine asked.

"I don't think I have anything that'll fit her." Elizabeth responded as Julia nodded.

"But if I use my solar magic properly I can dry her clothes." Julia said.

"If I add my air magic, it'll work out." Elizabeth added.

An hour later, Caitria sat at a table in the guild hall with a mug of hot coco in front of her in her now dried and ironed clothes. Her hair had been towel dried and was left loose.

"Thank you so much for all this." Caitria spoke before taking a sip.

"It's fine. I'm glad you're feeling better." Katherine replied.

"This is the nicest inn that I've ever been to." Caitria revealed.

"I wanted to correct you before but you were shivering like crazy. This isn't an inn, this is a wizard guild." Elizabeth stated.

"Didn't you see the guild banner hanging over the door way?" Julia asked.

"There's nothing there." Caitria answered.

"The wind must have blown it away." Katherine sighed.

"You said this was a wizard guild…" Caitria mumbled.

"Yes, this is the Howling Winds guild." Katherine smiled.

"How would a person join your guild?" Caitria asked.

"We don't really have any requirements except for the person being a wizard." Katherine pondered out loud.

"I'm a wizard, could I join?" Caitria asked.

"You don't have to join us because we helped you. We were more than happy to help." Katherine replied.

"It's not that." Caitria said. "I grew up in a very religious family, in a very religious region. Everywhere I went, people ostracised me because of my red eyes calling me a demon spawn, even my family. I'm not used to receiving kindness. You helped me despite my red eyes."

"I've seen plenty of people with red eyes before. Red eyes don't mean demon spawn." Elizabeth stated offhandedly.

"You must have a guardian angel because you were lucky enough to stumble to our guild in this storm." Julia smirked which made Caitria laugh.

"What's so funny?" Katherine asked.

"My magic is Fallen Angel magic." Caitria explained.

XXXXX

Merric exited the post office after delivering the letter; surprisingly enough they were one of the few places open during this horrid downpour. 'I guess they take this "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night…" thing seriously.' Merric thought as he held onto the umbrella tightly.

He could have waited in the post office as the postmaster offered but Merric just wanted to return to the guild and crawl into bed. Despite having an umbrella, the changing winds resulted in most of him being wet; he wanted a hot bath quickly. Losing concentration briefly a powerful gust of wind stole away Katherine's umbrella.

Merric watched as the umbrella raced away as he was soaked by persistent downpour. Chasing after the umbrella was a lost cause so he whipped his jacket off and covered his head as he ran. He ran to shelter offered by a covered bus stop.

The small overhead didn't offer much protection as the rain came in from all directions but it was better than being in the rain directly. As Merric shivered he looked out into the rain and saw someone else caught in the storm.

Her long, pink hair was being whipped around by the wind but somehow remained in a ponytail. The fair skin, brown eyed girl was being knocked off balanced by the changing winds but managed to stand.

"Hey, over here!" Merric shouted.

Soaked to the skin the pink haired girl joined Merric under the bus stop. The 18 year old wore a loose sleeveless white tank top under a black cardigan with jeans and black combat boots. Her shoulders hung with the sodden weight of soaked hair and clothes.

"Thank you, I didn't see this place." She mumbled shivering.

"No problem, you looked like you were about to be blown away by the wind." Merric joked.

"Are you implying that I'm weak?" She asked trying to sound mad but was too cold.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Merric Williams." Merric diffused the potential situation.

"Hitomi Nagumo." She replied frigidly because she was shivering.

There was an awkward silence as they waited. Merric didn't want to speak because Hitomi gave off an intimidating aura while Hitomi was feeling uneasy as her vision was blurry from water running into her eyes.

"I finally arrive at Edelweiss City and I'm greeted with this." Hitomi muttered.

Another drawn out silence began as neither of them had anything to say with the rain coming down more intensely. A hushed, dragged out croak alerted Merric to the presence of a massive frog next to him.

Side stepping hastily without thinking about the lack of space he bumped into Hitomi knocking her down.

"Did you just do that?" Hitomi exclaimed stunned.

"Completely by accident, the frog made me do it." Merric pointed to the now empty spot.

"What frog?" Hitomi gritted her teeth. "Is that your excuse for trying to get fresh with me?"

"Not likely. If I had to put in womanly measurements then you're decent but that's it." Merric's mouth responded faster than his brain could think.

"First you push me down and then you call me ugly? You've got some nerve." Hitomi snapped.

"And you have a temper…" Merric picked up.

From her lying position she lifted her legs and back, raising her body in such a way that when she rocked back she pushed off with her hands and kicked up into a standing position.

"Nice kick up." Merric retorted.

Hitomi then Requiped into a red kimono that had slits, making it possible to see her legs. She extended her arms and Requiped a katana in each hand.

"Not so snarky now, are you?" Hitomi asked pointing her sword at Merric.

"So you're a Requip mage, it's been a long time since I've seen one." Merric admitted while stepping away from the sword to other edge of the bus stop.

"You don't seem to notice the situation you're in." Hitomi stated.

"I'm also a mage and I can defend myself. In the middle of this thunderstorm, you're at a serious disadvantage. If I was you, I'd back down." Merric pointed out.

"These blades are much more powerful than they seem. Your overconfidence will be your downfall." Hitomi smirked.

Before the battle could begin, the large frog from earlier hopped in-between them with what seemed like its large family of frogs.

"F…F…Frogs!" Merric shriek leaping backwards and falling over out of the bus stop shelter.

"There really were frogs." Hitomi mumbled losing some of her anger after the shriek.

"Kill them, cut them in half." Merric shouted.

"I'm not going to do that!" Hitomi protested. "Why don't you use your magic on them?"

"I can't bring myself to blow up frogs with lightning." Merric confessed as the rain poured over him.

Hitomi swiped her blades together, creating a loud clanking sound and chased the frogs away allowing Merric to return to the shelter.

"I apologize for losing my temper earlier. I've had a tough time recently travelling town to town looking for jobs. Some people try to take advantage of people in need." Hitomi apologized.

"It's cool, no harm no foul." Merric limped back under the shelter.

"You twisted your ankle when you tried to flee the frogs." Hitomi mumbled.

"Maybe…" Merric responded embarrassed.

"Where do you live? I'll help you get back." Hitomi sighed.

"Thank you for the offer but can you do me a favour. When we get there, could you not mention that I was hobbled by some frogs." Merric replied.

XXXXX

The massive storm passed by and the sun was now shining over Edelweiss City. With the weather now clear Katherine had authorised the guild to go on jobs but she had also told them they can expect more jobs to come in because of the damaged caused by the storm.

"Hitomi, I'm surprised you're joining the guild." Merric said as he applied an ice pack to his ankle.

"I've been travelling around for a long time now. A guild will offer stability that I need." Hitomi responded as she filled in her paperwork.

"Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit." Kipper teased as he flew passed Merric.

"Here Merric." Sou gave Merric a salt shaker. "Use this next time frogs decide to attack you."

"Brought down by short-bodied, tailless amphibians, sad. You need more training." Raphael scoffed walking passed.

"Hitomi! You've only been here five minutes, how did you manage to tell everyone what happened." Merric complained.

Hitomi pretended she couldn't hear him and continued filling in her forms.

"I'm done!" Caitria spoke up.

Katherine then read over the papers. "Okay, where do you want your guild mark?"

"Silver near my shoulder bone." Caitria responded.

"I'm done as well." Hitomi said. "I'd like my guild mark pink located on my right thigh."

"Come into the back and I'll give you your guild marks." Katherine said.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

OC pairing, I'm sure that you're all curious about that. I have been working on it and come up a few based on the OC's personality and what they look for in a relationship based on the submissions. I will start hinting at and working in the pairings once all the OC's have appeared.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.

I did not accept any guest review OCs because then I would have no way to PM the creator if I had any queries.

Also if you're wondering when your OC will appear, PM and I will let you know.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

With a hint of pride Katherine pinned the last piece of paper onto the job request board. Howling Winds was finally receiving enough jobs that warranted the use of a request board. Albeit, most of the jobs had to do with the aftermath of the storm, Katherine had faith that a good showing on those jobs would build more goodwill and lead to more jobs.

"Before you all pick your jobs, we have some special request jobs." Katherine announced. "Damone, Julia, the museum would like you to handle security over the transport of certain artefacts. Alaska, the library wants you to handle a new shipment of spell books."

"It looks like madam curator was true to her word of using the guild again." Damone smirked.

"What a great opportunity to become immersed in history." Julia marvelled.

"How come I didn't get called back for the library job?" Jinx questioned.

"It's simple; the head librarian has a thing for Alaska." Elizabeth laughed.

"I'm going to be a professional and ignore his advances." Alaska sighed.

"Do you need any assistance in taking care of the librarian's advances?" Hitomi asked.

"Thanks for the offer but it would be bad for the guild if you sliced him in half." Alaska declined politely.

"That smell…" Kipper cursed in fear before flying upstairs.

"Look what I have!" Merric exclaimed running into the guild.

"What is …" Katherine's questioning paused when she saw the puppy that Merric held in his hands. "What is that?"

The infant dog looked like a miniature wolf with snow white fur.

"It's a puppy; he's going to be our guild mascot." Merric explained holding up the puppy Lion King style.

"Is that a real wolf?" Caitria asked.

"No but he looks just like a wolf. He's a husky." Merric explained.

"He looks thirsty." Faith noted as the dog's tongue hung out of his mouth.

"I'll get him a bowl of water!" Kori exclaimed.

"Normally I'm not interested in this kind of thing but where did you get that dog?" Raphael asked.

"A travelling gypsy guy was passing through the city and selling exotic animals." Merric explained. "Look at this little guy, he looks exactly like the wolf in our guild mark."

"Hmmm, now that you mention it, if he kept his mouth closed and was a bit bigger, it would be an exact match." Sou examined the puppy closer.

"Here's some water." Kori placed a bowl of water on the floor.

"Everyone be careful, he's a bit of a sprinter." Merric warned as he placed the puppy on the floor next to the bowl of water.

The puppy then began to lap up water before trying to run around.

"I got him!" Jinx captured the puppy before he could runaway too far.

"What's his name?" Hitomi asked.

"I figured we should name him together as a guild." Merric lied as he was unable to come up with a fitting name by himself.

"For a cool looking dog like that, he needs a cool name." Damone chuckled.

"It has to be something to do with the wind." Alaska suggested.

"What about naming him after famous wind mages." Julia exclaimed.

"Don't name him, that'll make it too hard to return him." Katherine finally spoke up on the other side of the guild.

"What are you talking about?" Elizabeth asked.

"Who is going to be doing the dog walking, feeding him and taking him to the vet? It's going to be really difficult once everybody is taking jobs." Katherine explained.

The air of excitement that built up was shattered by Katherine's attitude and harsh reality of responsibility.

"If we take turns…" Jinx mumbled.

"We could make him our guard dog / mascot." Faith suggested remembering the window incident.

"Please Katherine; I've never had a pet because I was always on the road." Merric pleaded.

"I'll be honest with you, I dislike dogs." Katherine confessed shocking most of them. "Let's put it down to a bad experience as a child but if you all agree to take responsibility then you can keep the puppy but outside."

"Now we need to name him." Merric smiled in response.

"How about Weiss?" Raphael suggested. "That way you name him after his fur and the city."

"Huh, I'm surprised that you were able to come up with a good name." Sou complimented.

"I like Weiss." Faith spoke up.

"Anyone against Weiss?" Caitria asked.

"I guess you are Weiss now, welcome to Howling Winds." Merric took the puppy from Jinx.

"There's a vet on the other side of town, take Weiss there and have him checked out." Katherine added.

"That's a good idea, I'll go there now." Merric nodded.

"Everybody else, we have jobs to complete." Katherine reminded.

XXXXX

"This is such a waste of my abilities." Hitomi complained flexing her hand waving her sword.

"Come on, we all agreed to help out with taking care of Weiss when we weren't on jobs." Jinx reminded.

"But still, having me use my swordsmanship to slice wood." Hitomi sighed.

"Here, I managed to get wood for free from the hardware store." Sou shouted as he appeared carrying several large planks.

"Now we just need to draw up plans for the dog house." Jinx stated.

"I think you should get started on that." Hitomi replied.

"I don't know anything about drawing up plans." Jinx revealed. "What about you Sou?"

"No clue, I thought you guys were working on the plans." Sou responded.

"I've never had a dog so I don't know what a dog house should look like." Hitomi shrugged.

"We could try winging it." Jinx suggested.

"This is all the wood we have. I don't think the hardware store will give us anymore." Sou sighed.

"There's a book store in town." Hitomi sheathed her katana and Requiped it away. "I'll get us a book on dog houses."

"We'll be here waiting." Jinx waved goodbye.

"We should have chosen a job that needed more than 10 minutes to complete." Sou muttered.

XXXXX

Hitomi browsed the books that were under DIY searching for one that would help them with the dog house situation. Having no luck she decided to expand her search to the crafts sections. As she was moving over someone bumped into her.

"You could say sorry." Hitomi muttered.

"I could." The girl retorted.

The tanned girl Hitomi bumped into had one grey eye while the other was covered by a black eye patch and long honey, brown hair styled in low pigtails. She wore a black vest which was unbuttoned exposing her stomach with a grey skirt held up by a black belt and white thigh high socks tucked into dark brown knee high boots.

"You should really look in a mirror before you go out, I can see that you're wearing a navy blue bra under your black vest." Hitomi responded allowing her temper to get the better of her.

"I'm 16; I can wear what I want." The girl replied.

Hitomi then noticed that the girl had a straight bladed short sword with a square guard sheathed hanging off her belt.

"Interesting sword." Hitomi noted.

"Normally I requip it but since I heard there was a shadow thief around, I decided to keep it on me." The girl explained.

"Hitomi Nagumo." Hitomi smirked reequipping her swords in their sheathed form.

"Amagi Shade." The girl responded placing her hand on her sword's hilt.

"Damn it, normally I would challenge you to a friendly duel to test your blade but I have to find a book on dog houses." Hitomi sighed.

"Do you need to design a dog house?" Amagi asked to which Hitomi nodded. "I happen to be quite the artist, if you can beat me in a duel. I'll design your dog house."

Without further words the two moved to a vacant lot on the edge of town to cross swords in a friendly duel. Hitomi Requiped to her red kimono and reverse-quipped one her swords.

"Should I hold back?" Hitomi asked.

"If you want an excuse as to why you lost." Amagi drew her sword.

Amagi sprung forward waving her sword but Hitomi remained composed and simply backed off judging the younger girl's style. Amagi came in with an advancing swipe only to be parried by Hitomi.

"You're quick." Hitomi noted.

Amagi tried a straight slash but Hitomi blocked and easily pushed Amagi off. Amagi felt her sword reverberate in her hand, the price of underestimating Hitomi's strength.

"And you're strong." Amagi nodded.

"Years of training with the blade." Hitomi explained.

"Clearly you have experience on me." Amagi smirked. "But I have something more."

"Requip Colour Red." Amagi reequipped to a sword identical to her first except it was completely red.

"Oh, interesting." Hitomi mumbled unsure.

Amagi back stepped waving her red sword unleashing an arc of flames causing Hitomi to react quickly. The older swordswoman dived and rolled to avoid.

"I've seen this before. Rainbow Ninja Art, each different coloured blade gives you a different power." Hitomi recalled.

"You are a sword expert." Amagi praised with a smile.

"Hey! Hitomi, are you okay?" Merric called out as he walked by carrying Weiss.

"What are you doing here?" Hitomi asked.

"The vet's right over there." Merric pointed to the building across the street.

"Is that the dog you want to build the house for?" Amagi asked as she reverse-quipped her sword.

"Yes, that is Weiss. He is to be the mascot of our guild." Hitomi explained.

"He is such a cutie. I think I'll help you design that dog house." Amagi cheered running to Merric to get a better view of Weiss.

"I wouldn't say I'm cute, more like conventionally handsome." Merric laughed.

"She was talking about the dog." Hitomi pointed out.

"I know." Merric mumbled.

XXXXX

A small construction site was now in operation outside the Howling Winds guild. Amagi, Hitomi and Sou were looking at a design that Amagi had drawn. After tweaking it to deal with the short supply of wood, Amagi set about marking the wood for Hitomi to slice.

Jinx and Merric were nearby playing with Weiss who now had a black collar. The only thing that kept Weiss from running away was a leash hooked to his collar that was tied to a peg in the ground.

"Maybe we should train him." Jinx suggested as the tiny dog was biting Merric's shoes.

"You have to train them from a young age or else it'll become very difficult going forward." Alaska spoke joining them.

"How was your job?" Jinx asked.

"Relatively easy, there were very few books." Alaska answered.

"No trouble from the librarian." Merric inquired.

"None, though I think he would know better than to mess with a mage." Alaska responded.

"So how are we supposed to train Weiss?" Merric questioned.

"He has to be our mascot so if we don't train him well, it won't be good news for anyone. Especially if he starts bothering Katherine." Jinx shuddered at the thought of an annoyed Katherine.

"Let's try." Merric smirked. "Sit."

"You can't just say sit, you have to show him." Alaska sighed.

"Sit." Merric ordered as he sat down.

"Not like that." Alaska laughed.

"Then how?" Jinx asked.

"Sit. S-I-T. Sit." Alaska stated loudly as she gently pushed Weiss's back so that he sat. "That's sit."

"Oh, that makes more sense than me sitting." Merric rubbed the back of his head.

"You have to establish a hierarchy with the dog or else he won't respect you." Alaska warned.

"You mean show Weiss who's boss?" Jinx restated.

"If only Katherine were here, we could just call her old and have the resulting mini-quake show Weiss whose boss." Merric laughed with Jinx and Alaska.

A cold wave of pressure washed over them ceasing the laughter.

"There's no way she heard us." Jinx chuckled nervously.

"It must just be a cold wind." Alaska tried to assure.

"I'll be back in a minute. Keep an eye on Weiss." Merric dashed into the guild.

"I think he has an idea." Jinx mumbled.

Merric returned carrying a bagel. He then waved the bagel in front of Weiss before lifting it out of the puppy's reach.

"You want it?" Merric asked as the dog stretched its leash trying to get the bagel. "Not yet, you eat after me."

"That's a bit mean." Jinx pouted.

"No, he's using food to establish his dominance. I guess a necessary evil if we want to be able to take care of Weiss properly." Alaska explained.

"It's done!" Amagi exclaimed.

"That's really amazing." Jinx marvelled.

"You did a good job of putting it together Sou." Amagi complimented.

"You did a good job of slicing the wood perfectly Hitomi." Sou replied.

"You did a good job designing the whole thing Amagi." Hitomi responded.

The three became involved in a loop of praising each other's contributions.

"I think it's time we feed Weiss." Alaska suggested. "He needs to get into a routine."

"Ah man, I knew I forgot something. I was on my way to the store when I saw Hitomi and Amagi fighting." Merric exclaimed.

"Here." Raphael finally let his presence be known as he threw Merric a small bag of dog food. "I knew you'd mess up."

"Nice Raphael." Sou gave thumbs up.

"Amagi, I know this is sudden but would you like to join our guild." Merric asked.

"What seriously?" Amagi responded. "Do you always just ask random people to join?"

"Yes." Came a collective laugh.

"I wouldn't mind if you joined." Hitomi smiled.

"I think I will join. I would like to learn more sword techniques from someone like you Hitomi." Amagi's hand itched with anticipation of clashing blades.

"Let's go inside and fill in the paperwork and get Katherine to give you a guild mark." Sou led the way.

"I want a purple one on my left shoulder." Amagi revealed.

XXXXX

The screeching sound of wheel locking on a small, rickety carriage as it came to a stop echoed through the empty streets on the edge of Laburnum Town.

A tall, young woman had gotten off the carriage and looked around at the street signs, trying to confirm that she had indeed gotten off at the right place.

She had long black hair with some of it tied back and white-silver eyes that looked like they were glowing. She wore a greyish-white dress that had a low back with a small strap running across. The dress had two high slits on both sides attached to a golden collar.

Her arms were covered by silver armbands which reached the middle finger on each hand and were attached to a silver ring. A golden belt rested low on her hips with chains attached to it. She had on white sandals with golden anklets.

She waited alone under the light of the brightest street lamp she could find. As she waited she could hear the footsteps of two people approaching. It didn't take long before she was approached by two drunks.

"I don't believe it, just our luck, we found a woman out here in the middle of nowhere." The first drunk laughed.

"You looked lost, how about you come back with us to our home and we can give you directions." The second drunk cackled.

"I think you guys should leave before Luke arrives." She replied annoyed.

Before either drunk could respond they were blasted aside by a tentacles made of black magic.

"Sorry Lili, I got held up by a shadow." A young man apologized walking into the light of the street lamp.

"Better late than never Luke." Lili replied. "You could have gone easier on them."

Luke was taller than Lili and had scruffy longish white hair with red ends. He had one red eye and the other covered by a black eye patch. He wore a long black tailcoat jacket that had white insides with a high collar and white cuffs at the ends of sleeves. On his hands were gray fingerless gloves. He had on white pants and black and white boots that went up to his knees.

"They were bothering you, they don't get easier." Luka explained.

"So what's this business with a shadow?" Lili asked.

"A shadow handed me this." Luka gave Lili a piece of paper with an address on it.

"Hmmm, should we even consider this?" Lili wondered.

"From what I hear, that shadow has quite a reputation for creating trouble." Luke answered.

"We've been out of work since the magic council decided to crack down on dark guilds; I say we go for it." Lili smiled. "If you're up for it."

"I'm in." Luke nodded.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

I apologize for the delay in updating, a lack of internet during my normal updating time.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

Also you may have noticed that I've started to introduce the 'bad guys' at the end. This is because the Introduction Arc is drawing to a close and the next arc will begin soon.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A week had gone by, a week filled with numerous jobs increasing by the day. Jobs ranging from simple deliveries to protecting the mayor while on business. It was becoming apparent that the people of Edelweiss were accepting having a wizard guild.

It didn't hurt matters that Howling Winds had a mascot that was named Weiss which seemed to incite some civic pride for the citizens of the windy city.

On this bright morning, the guild gathered outside to watch the results of Weiss's training.

"The week just flew by." Katherine muttered as she kept her distance.

"We've all been doing our part with Weiss. Hopefully we have something to show for it." Jinx cheered.

"Well, it's only been a week so it's best not to have too high hopes." Amagi warned.

"Now with Weiss around we can stop Kipper from pulling pranks." Kori laughed.

"Poor Kipper, he's terrified of dogs." Faith sighed.

Merric and Caitria stood with Weiss preparing to demonstrate the results of their teachings. Over the course of the week, Caitria had shown she had a knack for working with dogs and thus decided to help Merric with the training.

"Come on Caitria; show them what we've been working on." Merric gave the green light.

"Weiss, sit!" Caitria ordered.

The puppy dropped into a sitting a position and maintained it while wagging his tail. This earned a small applause from the guild members.

"Weiss, lie down." Caitria commanded.

Weiss went from a sitting position to laying on it belly earning more applause.

"Good boy." Merric tossed the puppy a treat.

"What's next?" Elizabeth asked.

"That's all we've perfect so far." Merric confessed.

"Are you serious? What about attack commands like bite?" Raphael exclaimed.

"Weiss is too young to be learning that!" Hitomi retorted. "He's like a plushie and should learn cute tricks."

"I hate to agree with Raphael but Weiss is going to grow into a big, strong dog. He needs to learn tricks that will make him fierce if we want to take him on jobs." Sou spoke.

"I thought we agreed to train Weiss as a mascot/guard dog, not an attack dog. Taking him on jobs might be too dangerous." Alaska countered.

"Ahem, I've already put up the new jobs on the request board. There are some good ones, first come first serve." Katherine reminded.

With that the guild moved off leaving Katherine, Merric and Amagi outside.

"It's my turn to walk Weiss today; I'll be back in a while." Amagi said as she got Weiss's leash and harness ready.

"Amagi, take a slow walk. Weiss needs to get another shot from the vet. Meet me there in an hour; I've got to complete the job I started yesterday." Merric said before taking off.

"Take the scenic route and try not to get in trouble." Katherine said looking at Amagi and Weiss.

XXXXX

Amagi held onto Weiss's leash tightly as the puppy excitedly tried to venture deeper into the northern Edelweiss forest. Next to Amagi, Caitria hiked doing her best not to act concerned. Caitria invited herself on the walk when she heard Amagi was going into the forest and now held herself back from reaching out and grabbing the leash because she was worried Weiss might get too excited.

Trailing behind the two girls was Merric. He had two documents and was tucking them into his jacket. One of the papers was a bill for the visit and shots Weiss received, the other was official registration papers.

"Who knew having a puppy was so expensive." Merric sighed feeling how much lighter his wallet was.

"Maybe we should pool some money together for Weiss instead of having you pay for everything." Amagi suggested.

"Don't worry about it; everyone is already pitching in for the food and stuff like that. I can cover the vet bills, besides I need to keep track of what shots Weiss has gotten so far." Merric replied.

"Well, Weiss really appreciates everything. A week ago he would have been trying to run away or bite someone's pants leg." Amagi laughed.

"When Katherine said you should take the scenic route, I don't think this is what she meant." Caitria finally spoke up.

"I agree with you." Merric nodded. "This underbrush and grass is so dense."

"Merric, stick to the beaten path. It's safer." Caitria suggested.

"Come on guys, look at Weiss. He loves it. He needs some nature once in a while." Amagi pointed out the puppy's jubilant mood.

"I suppose you're right but look at how dirty he is getting." Caitria noted.

"He's not that dirty, it only seems that way because he has snow white fur. The dirt shows more easily." Amagi explained.

As they ventured through the forest a pained cry from what they assumed to be a massive beast startled them and caused Amagi to loosen her grip on the leash. Weiss took off, pulling free from Amagi and ran through the forest towards the source of the cry.

"After him!" Merric shouted.

"You don't have to tell me!" Amagi retorted she ran.

The wizards followed Weiss off the beaten path and into the forest. The trees grew tall and close together meaning that there was no clear path through the forest causing Merric, Amagi and Caitria to separate and follow Weiss as best they could.

Caitria used her skinny frame to her advantage being able to rush between trees while Merric and Amagi went around. Stepping on twigs and fallen branches they raced to find Weiss.

As Caitria ran she slipped on some green moss and fell into tree but was able to get her hands up in time, only injuring her palms on the rough bark.

"Go on, I'll catch up!" Caitria shouted when she felt the others hesitate.

The falling leaves made their chase harder but Amagi used her shorter stature to easily duck branches while Merric was barely able to keep them from slapping him. Careful to avoid the twisted roots they finally caught up to Weiss, who was just about to run into a clearing.

The pup's leash was caught in the underbrush and it held him long enough for Amagi to grab it and hold on tightly.

"I'm glad his alright." Merric coughed.

"Merric… Is that a…" Amagi pointed to the middle of the clearing.

A large black bear was trapped by what appeared to be a magically bear trap made of energy.

"Yes, that a bear." Merric gulped.

"Finally! Some help!" A relieved voice cheered.

In the air dangling from a large tree that was overhanging the clearing was a trap net. Inside the trap net was a young man. The tall, young man looked in discomfort trapped in the net. He had spiky light blue hair and yellow eyes. He a sleeveless black shirt and three quarter white pants with black boots.

"What the…" Amagi mumbled.

"Could you guys get me down from here?" The young man asked.

"Should we help him?" Amagi asked.

"I don't know, it looks like he trapped this bear and then got himself trapped in his own traps. I say we help the bear." Merric replied.

"Wait, these aren't my traps. My name is Kazuya Bakarn and I'm just a traveller. I was wandering through this forest and I saw the bear in pain, when I went to help it this trap activated." The young man explained.

"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Amagi asked.

"I do, I saw the bear trapped so I didn't think there would be more traps." Kazuya admitted.

"Do you believe him?" Amagi turned to Merric who nodded.

"Wait, I'll get you down." Merric sighed gathering lightning in his hand.

"That's not going to work. I tried magic, this net is like anti-magic." Kazuya called out.

"What magic did you try?" Amagi asked.

"Well, I'm a Sea Dragon Slayer so I used Sea Dragon Slayer Magic." Kazuya answered.

"Seriously… How many dragon slayer types are there?" Merric muttered.

"Potentially there are thousands of dragons so potentially thousands of dragon slayers." Amagi shrugged

"I'll stun and then free the bear and you get Kazuya." Merric approached the trapped bear with lightning around his hand.

"Alright, be careful." Amagi Requiped her normal sword in her free hand.

Before they could continue a creature leapt out of the forest snarling and barking. It was a massive dog like creature. Its fur was pitch black and eyes yellow. The beast had scars over its left eye and on its right hind leg.

Weiss took to chirping in retaliation which was its attempt at barking. The beast before them barked getting its spit and drool on Amagi's hand.

"Weiss don't bark at the bear." Merric scolded.

"Nina is not a bear; she is a wolf, possibly a real hell hound." A cold voice rang out from before its source emerged.

The callous voice belonged to a slightly tan, brown eyed man. His hair was wild with spikes in random directions with some bangs in the front. He wore a grey hoodie jacket outlined in crimson red with a pair of bloody angel wings on the back and baggy khaki cargo pants with black slip on shoes.

"Merric, do you know this guy?" Amagi asked to which Merric shook his head.

"That is my friend Nina and she is a wolf. I am Styles Blackwood and I've finally caught you." Styles accused.

"I don't know what you want but I think you've got the wrong people." Amagi spoke up.

"I have the right people, you're the one called Dex the Hunter. Dex and his hunting dog, Apex." Styles pointed at Weiss. "The rumours seem to have exaggerated your dog."

"You and your bear must be confused, this is a puppy." Merric retorted.

"Again I say, that is no bear. Nina is a wolf." Styles corrected.

"Listen, I don't care what you call your bear. Just leave us be and I'll forget you ever crossed my path." Merric's voice changed from his usual aloof tone to an angrier one.

"People like you make me sick, you kill innocent animals just for the fun of it. You slaughter them simply to fuel your own pride." Styles declared.

"You're not going to touch Weiss." Amagi shouted.

"Amagi, you can't fight and watch out for Weiss. I'll create an opening and then you pick up Weiss and run for it." Merric whispered.

"Merric, my arm." Amagi winched as her arm locked out on her causing her to release her blade. "He's doing something to my arm. I think it has to do with his hound's slobber."

"You two are out of your league against me." Styles taunted as he moved his moved his arm around making Amagi's follow suit.

"Let's see you try and do the same thing with lightning." Merric covered his body in lightning effectively turning him into a lightning bolt. "Lightning Boost."

"That…" Styles was cut off by Merric's lightning form heading butting him in the face knocking him backwards.

Free from Style's grip Amagi picked up Weiss and ran. Nina tried to chase but was cut off by Merric in his lightning boost form.

"You're only delaying the inevitable. Nina will be able to track them down." Styles explained wiping his bloody lip. "You've already lost this fight."

"I made sure not to get any of your bear's drool on me. I'm safe." Merric retorted.

"My magic does not come from Nina, it comes from my blood. Nina merely used her 'drool' to get my blood on your partner." Styles showed off the blood he wiped from his lip. "Even in your lightning form, traces of my blood managed to get onto you."

Merric found himself frozen in place for a few second but they felt like minutes. He fell to his knees as he soon realised that his heart was beating faster than usual, and it kept getting faster and faster.

"How do you like Crimson Overdose?" Styles asked.

"Impossible, the lightning should have…" Merric clutched his chest.

"Your lightning must have evaporated the water in my blood, leaving the solids behind. I suspect specks of fine powdered blood made it through your lightning but it appears it was just enough." Styles explained.

"Blood magic, that's kind of gory. Tell me, do people often refer to you as count Dracula." Merric coughed.

"This is why I despise humans…" Styles cursed.

"Even though you are a human yourself?" Merric taunted.

"I'm more animal than human. I was raised by the wolves and I protect the wolves. As such I have taken it upon myself to rid the world of hunters and evil alike." Styles scoffed.

"I'm one hundred percent against animal cruelty but for you and your bear I'm willing to make an exception." Merric smirked.

"You're in no condition to make such threats. Your heart is going to keep beating till you go into cardiac arrest." Styles warned.

"Just so you know. I've had my heart beat much faster than this." Merric sighed getting up.

"Impressive, you've counteracted my spell with will power." Styles noted.

"No, my heart is still going a mile a minute but I can deal with this. This is nothing compared to how fast my heart beat when I use lightning boost." Merric responded.

"Stirring but you don't look like you're ready to fight." Styles muttered. "Nina let's end this."

Before Styles and Nina could move bullets struck them in the back unleashing a wicked electric current that paralysed them.

"Guns Magic: Spark Shot" Came the laugh from the bushes.

Wielding a colt revolver in each hand, the attacker emerged from the bush. He was a muscular man with short silver hair under a Stetson hat and blue eyes. He wore a loose fitting grey vest shirt and long black pants.

With Styles out, Merric returned to normal and was fine.

"Are they dead?" Merric questioned.

"No, my bullets are completely non lethal, they hurt like hell but can't kill unless you get hit with a lot." The gunslinger responded. "Good day Mr Styles Blackwood, I am Dex the Hunter and this is Apex." The attacker introduced as he was joined by a white Doberman marionette.

"I told you that you had the wrong people." Merric scoffed at Styles.

"I don't care about you; you can cut down that idiot from the tree and leave." Dex tucked his pistols into holsters hanging on his waist.

"What are you going to do to them?" Merric asked.

"This bloody abomination, get it, bloody, well he has a reputation for hunting down hunters." Dex explained. "He goes after good wholesome folks."

"Lies." Styles muttered. "I only attack those who defile nature. I lost the only family I had because some hunters killed them for sport."

"Shut up." Dex drew a pistol and fired off another Guns Magic: Spark Shot at Styles and tucked it away in one swift motion. "Like I was saying, I'm going to put these two down and then I'm going to stuff and mount the wolf."

"I just realised something, you're the bad guy." Merric sighed.

"Good, bad, all that is a matter of perspective kid. I don't want to kill you." Dex placed his hand on his revolver ready to draw.

A black magic circle appeared to Dex's right and a red appeared to his left. From the black circle, darkness magic gathered and formed into a large Labrador made of darkness with red eyes. From the red circles flames erupted forming into a large Labrador made of fire with black eyes.

"Fallen Angel Magic Hellhounds: Diemos!" Caitria's voice rang out and the black dog barked. "Fallen Angel Magic Hellhounds: Eisa!" The flame dog barked.

Dex drew and fired at Eisa but the bullet passed through the flames and Eisa pounced on Apex, setting the marionette on fire. Diemos tackled Dex and pinned him to the ground making him unable to fire his gun.

"Don't move or else Diemos will tear into you." Caitria warned walking into the clearing. "Hunting in Edelweiss Forest is illegal."

"Nice timing." Merric let out a breath of relieved air.

"I was waiting; I was unsure who the good guy was and who was the bad guy." Caitria confessed.

"Thank you for your assistance. I apologize for the case of mistaken identity earlier." Styles forcefully apologized as he got up.

"Hello, is anyone going to get me down from here?" Kazuya called out from above.

"Wait a minute; you would have seen Dex from up there. Why didn't you warn us?" Merric asked.

"I thought he was on your side since he was aiming at the blood guy." Kazuya explained.

"I can't fault his logic." Caitria nodded.

"I got that." Amagi reappeared and threw her up slicing the rope that held the net up.

The net opened and Kazuya fell into the grass below. "Ah, that's gonna leave a bruise…"

"You three and your pup have my gratitude but now Nina and I must do what we set out to do." Styles said after checking up on Nina.

"What is that?" Amagi asked.

"Killing Dex." Styles answered.

"No." Caitria refused.

"What?" Styles protested.

"I'll repeat it, No!" Merric said.

"And I'll drive it home, No Killing!" Amagi exclaimed.

"This man… He is scum… He kills…" Styles tried to think of something to say that he didn't already say.

"Then we turn him into the Magic Council. There's a Rune Knight station a few miles past Edelweiss." Caitria revealed. "We can take him there."

"Why?" Styles demanded to know.

"Because as a member of Howling Winds I can't let you kill him." Merric retorted. "Everything we do reflects on the guild and Katherine and to some extent Jagen."

"Even though we're an independent guild we follow the law, it was one of the terms and conditions in that thing we signed. Besides, following the law is what stops us from crossing the line and becoming dark mages." Amagi added.

"Listen to them blood lad, if you take lives as you feel fit, then what's the difference between you and I?" Dex taunted.

"Fine, you can have him." Styles muttered as he and Nina wandered off.

"So guys, I was lost in the forest, so I was hoping I could go with you. That other guy doesn't seem in the mood for a tag along." Kazuya asked.

"Sure, Diemos and Eisa don't mind." Caitria spoke after getting the okay from Merric and Amagi.

"Merric, you still have to free the bear." Amagi reminded.

XXXXX

Marv wiped down the counter of the Easy Tap bar. He was still pissed off that a woman had walked into what he considered his second home and made such a fool of him. He was even more pissed off that he couldn't make a move against Alaska or Merric because Cameron warned him not to.

"I don't even know who Jagen is… Why do I have to be scared of him…" Marv complained.

As he mumbled profanities to himself the bar doors opened and a young woman walked in.

The tall young woman had a lithe, athletic figure. Her hair was long, black and curly while her eyes were slanted and dark blue. Her skin was pale but her dramatic make up covered this up. She had a slim face with high cheekbones and a thin nose. The 24 year old wore a backless zebra print halter top with black form-fitting pants and red pumps.

Marv was about to throw out his best pick up line but remember Alaska so he grabbed his weapon that was under the bar counter.

She walked up the bar counter and sat down while glaring at Marv.

"My name is Magdalene Fortner; I hear from a reliable source that you're recruiting people." She said.

"I don't know what you're talking about, we're not hiring." Marv responded.

"I wasn't talking to you." Magdalene scoffed.

A shadow crawled up the stool next to Magdalene and formed into a man clad in all black with his face beneath the hood was not visible.

"What the…" Marv pulled out his base ball bat and pointed it at the shadow thief.

Marv was trembling and in no condition to swing successfully. Magdalene mimicked a gun with her hand and created a colourful amorphous, grey blob at her index finger, firing it Marv. The attack blasted Marv against the shelves behind him.

"What am I doing with my life? How did it come to this? I've wasted so much of my life trying to be tough guy and what do I have to show for it? Nothing, I have nothing. No girlfriend, nothing. I'm so alone." Marv cried wallowing in self pity.

"That's just a small taste of my Emotion magic." Magdalene boasted.

The shadow thief nodded approvingly as he slipped a piece of paper with an address on it to Magdalene across the bar counter. Once Magdalene picked up the paper, the shadow thief returned to shadow form and left.

"I guess I'll see you there." Magdalene smirked.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

Thus ends the Introduction Arc, next chapter the Crown Arc begins.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

The 'bad guys' will be getting more story time later on when the plot starts developing.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The guild hall was alive with chatter and small talk. The guild had grown from having just one member in Katherine to having fifteen members, seventeen if you counted Weiss and Kipper. The mood was good and the wizards were riding a wave of success after completing jobs across Edelweiss. The fallout from the devastating storm was all but over yet jobs kept coming in.

Alaska and Elizabeth sat together trying to clear some confusion that had grown between them since they met.

"Maybe if you explain it one more time." Alaska spoke certain she understood but needing confirmation.

"I use water and air magic, not fire and earth." Elizabeth explained.

"But you want to learn fire and earth magic going forward." Alaska replied.

"Exactly." Elizabeth nodded.

Faith and Kori, who had become a de facto team because they were always together, were sitting with Julia trying to get her to join them. Julia's solar magic and Faith being a Sun Dragon Slayer, the idea of joining forces made sense to all three of them.

"I do use solar magic but that's only during the day." Julia explained.

"We know. Your lunar magic is impressive as well." Kori replied.

"I'm flattered but I'm just worried that I won't be able to add much to the team." Julia revealed. "I tend to make mistakes under pressure."

"I'd be lying if I said I never made a mistake. We all have our weaknesses but you're really good at being able to read people and you have a good memory." Faith smiled.

"You noticed that." Julia responded a bit taken back.

"Faith may be quiet but only because she's under spoken, not shy." Kori stated. "She pays attention to everyone."

"Kori, you're making me sound like a stalker." Faith sighed.

"Let's try being a team together. We can go on a few jobs together and see how we gel." Julia smiled.

"That's great!" Faith exclaimed.

"Where's your Exceed?" Julia asked.

"Kipper is sulking in their room because Faith was petting Weiss this morning." Kori revealed.

In the corner of the guild, furthest away from any of the other tables, was the table that Raphael had staked a claim on. Though this was the case, Raphael found that recently people would intrude on peace and talk to him. Today Sou and Jinx were the ones who were trying to strike up a conversation with him. The exact topic of the conversation had been lost as they argued.

"All I'm saying is that you should consider it." Sou drove home his point.

"And I'm saying that I have nothing to gain from this venture." Raphael countered.

"That's because you're closed minded and stubborn." Sou accused.

"Me, stubborn. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black." Raphael accused.

"You can be stubborn at times Sou." Jinx nodded.

"Whose side are you on?" Sou questioned.

"I'm just a neutral party here." Jinx raised her arms in innocence.

"If you don't mind, I have reading to catch up on." Raphael sighed.

"Seriously? You read all the time, where do get those books from?" Sou asked.

"Ever heard of something called a library." Raphael retorted.

Jinx just rocked back on her chair and sighed as the two males traded verbal jabs.

Amagi and Caitria sat together at a table; they were sharing the reward money they had received for turning over Dex the Hunter to the Rune Knights. They had not known it at the time but Dex was actually a dark mage from a defunct dark guild.

"There, three equal amounts for you, Merric and I." Amagi stated after counting out the money.

"You're a year younger than me but more mature." Caitria marvelled.

"Counting money doesn't make me mature." Amagi waved off the compliment.

"No, I'm not talking about this. I should have explained better. I'm talking about everything yesterday. How you spoke to the Rune Knights and handled all of that." Caitria explained.

"Oh well, I like to have a plan before doing anything. From the time we left the forest I was rehearsing what I wanted to say in my head." Amagi confessed.

"When I first saw you I thought you were this overly serious and monotone person but you can actually be funny when you're joking." Caitria admitted.

"Wow, I guess I can see how you saw that." Amagi sighed.

Everyone else was minding their own business going on with their day waiting for Katherine to pin the newest requests on the board.

"I'm glad to see everyone is in such high spirits." Katherine announced with a smile holding onto a very fancy looking envelope.

"Do we have any more jobs?" Alaska asked looking at the bare notice board.

"Actually, we do have something big." Merric spoke up.

"Ahem, I'm making the announcement." Katherine shot Merric a stern look.

"Lips zipped." Merric piped down.

"What I hold here is not just an envelope. This is proof, proof of all the hard work everyone has put in to establishing the guild. This represents how far we've gone to working our way into the heart of Edelweiss." Katherine held up the envelope.

"Is that the key to the city?" Kazuya asked.

"No its not. Don't interrupt her unless you want a plate to the head." Merric warned rubbing his own head in memory.

"Like I was saying. This represents how far we've gone to working our way into the heart of Edelweiss. Next month is the Quincentenary Anniversary of the founding of Edelweiss City." Katherine spoke.

"That's a five hundred year anniversary, right?" Elizabeth tried to confirm.

"That's right; Edelweiss was formed five hundred years ago by Duchess Alexis Edelweiss née Fiore." Julia recited what she read in the museum.

"Do they want us to perform some sort of show for the anniversary?" Damone asked as he imagined break dancing on a parade float.

"No, it's something much bigger." Katherine shook her head.

"Bigger… Perhaps they would like to hire the guild to provide protection or security during the festival." Hitomi theorised.

"Not quite right." Katherine replied. "Julia, you're the resident history buff, would you mind explaining to everyone about the founding of Edelweiss City."

"Ah, sure, I hope I'm not too boring." Julia stood up and prepared. "Duchess Alexis Edelweiss née Fiore, by her name you can tell that she was part of the royal family of Fiore. She was the king's favourite niece and as a wedding gift, she was given a massive piece of the kingdom as her own. She turned what was a farming community into a city to rival that of Crocus."

"Thank you Julia, I see all that time at the museum has paid off." Katherine noted. "Duchess Alexis was also given as a wedding present a very special royal crown. On her death, her husband broke the crown in a state of grief. He then gave the four pieces of the crown to his four sons."

"I don't quite follow." Sou muttered aloud.

"Basically, 450 years that precious crown was split into four pieces and hidden away." Merric explained.

"And that's where we come in. It may seem like an impossible task but the mayor of Edelweiss has requested that we track down the lost pieces of the crown in time for the anniversary." Katherine explained.

"That doesn't just seem impossible, it practically is. History is very sketchy about what exactly happened to the crown pieces." Julia exclaimed.

"We do have some clues to where the crown pieces are. The mayor was very helpful in that regard. The sons who received them resided in Acacia City, Gerbera Ruins, Japonica City and Kennedia City when Duchess Alexis passed away." Katherine explained.

"Searching for 450 year old treasure seems like a lot of work." Kazuya mused.

"Edelweiss is offering a reward of five million jewels and the King of Fiore is going to add an additional 10 million." Katherine announced.

The blockbuster announcement set the guild into hullabaloo as everyone was speaking up and raising their voices trying to call which city they wanted to search and how they wanted operate on the job.

With a sigh Merric walked to the front and stood alongside Katherine. Rubbing his hands together he created tiny bolts of lightning between them. Separating his hands quickly, the lightning dissipated and released a shockwave that created a mini crack of thunder silencing the guild.

"That's a toned down version of my Thunder Echo." Merric boasted.

"Such a horrible spell." Faith complained covering her ears.

"Sorry about that but we needed to get your attention. I know you're all excited to do this but I've already decided how you split up. I took into consideration your skills and your abilities before I made my decision." Katherine explained.

There was a silence as no one really knew how to respond.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Katherine put a lot of effort into dividing everyone." Merric sighed. "It's not something that she came to lightly. I suggested we draw names from a hat but she spent all night working on it."

This seemed to put everyone at ease and made them more accepting of the roles they were going to be given.

"Firstly, Kori and I will remain at the guild. We will organize everyone from here and coordinate communication between the teams." Katherine announced.

"I'll do my best!" Kori exclaimed.

"Julia, you have a good relationship with the museum. You'll be working there mostly during this mission. I know it's a lot but when it comes to history you're our go to girl. We need you to go through any historical documents you can find and get clues that can help us." Katherine hoped the young girl was up for the task.

"Treasure hunting is in my blood, I'll find every clue that there is." Julia declared.

"Faith, Damone and Kazuya will travel to Kennedia City. It's the closest to Edelweiss so you can get there by foot. I know dragon slayers get motion sick easily." Katherine explained.

Faith, Damone and Kazuya just nodded in agreement remembering their worst bouts of motion sickness.

"Raphael, Sou and Jinx will head to Acacia City. Acacia is one of the cities that have not been hit by the shadow thief. Sou and Jinx will be able to use their shadow powers there without worrying about mistaken identities." Katherine stated.

"I'm not a team player. I rather go alone." Raphael protested.

"It's not like we won a prize by being paired with you." Sou retorted.

"Despite your obvious animosity, you two would work well together. Besides, I can trust Jinx to keep thing amicable." Katherine replied.

"That's much easier said than done." Jinx sighed but with a hint of pride that Katherine trusted her.

"Alaska, Amagi and Elizabeth will head to Japonica City." Katherine continued.

"Japonica City, that's pretty far away." Elizabeth noted.

"It's the city that's furthest away." Alaska spoke.

"I don't mind. I can handle it." Amagi brushed off the long travelling.

"Alaska, you're quick on your feet and your Royal Magic gives you a wide range of powers for any situation. Amagi, your wide variety of Requip weapons means you'll be battle ready instantly. Elizabeth, your air and water magic can give an edge in a pinch especially when combined with Alaska and Amagi's magic. That's why I trust that the three of you can handle going the furthest." Katherine responded.

"Merric, Caitria, Hitomi, the three of you will be going to Gerbera Ruins in the mountains. It used to be a city 200 years ago. There are no more roads to Gerbera; you'll have to get by going through the forest, climbing the mountain and taking trails that haven't been used in ages." Katherine revealed.

"What about me? Which of my skills did you consider when you picked me?" Merric asked.

Ignoring Merric, Katherine's face became serious. "Even though I considered how your magic would help you in a worst case scenario, I pray that it does not come to that. I expect all of you to take the upmost care to ensure that you complete the job without trouble."

"What happens when we return to Edelweiss?" Alaska asked.

"Then we hand the pieces to the mayor and celebrate with the rest of Edelweiss when the time comes." Katherine answered. "Use today to plan with your team, tomorrow we begin."

XXXXX

Dex leaned against the cell bars that kept him prisoner, he just stood there complaining. He was being held in a small Rune Knight outpost. His small cell only had a single bench and a toilet. Dex raved about his rights as the Rune Knight on duty sat at his desk across the room from the cell. Dex's holsters and guns were on the desk as the Rune Knight filled some paperwork.

The Rune Knight rocked back on his chair laughing at Dex, in his laughter he failed to see his own shadow begin to move. The shadow crept along the wall until it was directly behind the Rune Knight. A solid hand grew out of the shadow and gripped the knight by his collar before yanking his head into the stone wall.

"What the…" Dex mumbled.

A man clad in all black emerged from the shadow, his face beneath the hood was not visible, it was as if the hood was empty.

"I've heard about you, you're that infamous shadow thief." Dex put two and two together.

The shadow thief remained silent as he raided the Rune Knight's pockets before emerging with the prison cell keys. He then opened the cell and handed Dex a piece of folded paper.

"Follow him…" Dex read unfolding the paper. "Follow who?"

The shadow thief didn't respond, he returned to shadow form and fled. Not wasting time, Dex strapped his holsters and guns back around his waist before leaving the station. He found his path obstructed by a young boy.

The boy had raven black hair with dark deep blue eyes. He wore white jeans with a white hoodie and a bright blue t-shirt with white outlines in the shape of diamonds.

"Oh great, don't tell me I have to follow you…" Dex muttered.

"The name is Matthew Andrew Haze." The boy introduced.

"That shadow expects me to follow a child?" Dex sighed.

"I'm 14 and I guess in the eyes of someone as old as you I would seem like a child." Matthew replied.

"You got a quick tongue but my gun is much faster." Dex warned.

"Let's not fight, that shadow guy, my boss for all intensive purposes, told me to meet you here." Matthew explained.

"It's for all intents and purposes." Dex corrected.

"What?" Matthew replied confused.

"It's a common misconstruction, you meant 'for all intents and purposes' not 'for all intensive purposes'." Dex clarified.

"Whatever…" Matthew mumbled.

"Getting back on topic. Why would I need to follow you? I'm free now." Dex laughed.

"I don't know. The shadow's message said I should use all the back roads and hidden routes that I know to get you in Edelweiss City undetected." Matthew shrugged.

"Edelweiss… Let's go." Dex smirked.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

And so the Crown Arc begins. As you probably guessed, this Arc is about retrieving the crown pieces. This chapter was just to introduce the story arc but expect this Arc to contain proper battles later on.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

If I have made mistakes, feel free to point them out to me. I don't have a beta reader and I tend to miss my own mistakes when I proof read.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.

I have a list of Howling Wind members on my profile (The OC and the creator). If enough people request, I'll add the OC's magic to the list.

Once I officially unveil the 'bad guys' as a group I will add a list of them (The OC and the creator) to my profile as well.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Peaking just barely above the horizon, the morning sun began to rise. The city had yet to stir at this hour but for those travelling long distances by foot, it was time to make tracks.

The trio of dragon slayers and an Exceed all had knapsacks to carry whatever supplies they needed as well as a single communication Lacrima. The communication Lacrima was to be used only to contact the guild. Faith being in charge had it with her.

Departing from the south of Edelweiss they set off. At walking speed, the journey to Kennedia City would take two to three days depending on other factors.

"Look at that, the sun hasn't even begun to work and we're already off." Kazuya muttered.

"There's the age old expression, the early bird catches the worm." Damone responded.

"It's good to travel at this hour. There's nothing quite like the rising sun in the morning, it feels amazing." Faith noted.

"It probably feels different for you because you're absorbing the sun light." Damone noted.

"How come you guys don't have Exceeds?" Kipper asked.

"Well, I'm a second generation dragon slayer." Damone replied.

"I guess I haven't found my Exceed as yet." Kazuya shrugged.

"Between the three of us, we have a first, second and third generation dragon slayer." Faith marvelled.

"I don't understand the differences." Kipper admitted.

"I'm a first generation dragon slayer because I was taught my magic by an actual dragon." Faith explained.

"I have a Lacrima in my chest. That Lacrima allows me to use dragon slayer magic. That's what makes me second generation." Damone continued.

"I have a Lacrima and was trained by a dragon. Third generation is a combination of first and second." Kazuya completed.

"What happened to your dragon Kazuya?" Damone asked.

"I was raised by the sea dragon Aneria. She raised me near the ocean. One day she just disappeared and I set off searching for her. Along the way I found a dragon slayer Lacrima and had it implanted." Kazuya confessed.

"What you about Faith, where's your dragon?" Damone questioned.

"I don't like to talk about it." Faith mumbled.

"Come on, I told you about Aneria. You can share just a little about your dragon." Kazuya prodded.

"I don't want to talk about it! Just let it go!" Faith snapped.

An angry outburst by one of the quietest girls in the guild had the effect that one would expect it to have. Kazuya and Damone were both taken aback while Kipper just waved at them trying to get them to move on from the topic.

"Anyone wants a cigarette; I just bought a new pack of herbal smokes the other day." Damone tried to change the topic.

"I don't smoke." Faith declined.

"I've never tried a cigarette." Kazuya muttered tempted.

Silence between the three of them soon grew to uneasy proportions, threatening to engulf them and become a permanent fixture for the rest of the trip.

"I'm sorry I lost my temper. I just don't like talking about Areos, it's a sensitive issue." Faith apologized.

"It's cool; you don't have to share if you're not comfortable. We won't pester you on it anymore." Damone responded.

"Not another peep about it." Kazuya nodded.

XXXXX

The loud yell of the coachman and the harness pulling tight was followed by the clop of horses' hooves. In an attempt to completely disguise their travelling to Acacia City, Sou had called in favours and got them a horse drawn carriage to take them to the next town over where they would get on a train.

"This is the dumbest thing ever in the history of ideas." Raphael protested.

"That's a hyperbole." Jinx responded. "There's no way this is the dumbest ever."

"This is a damn good idea; all the teams agreed that we should be covert on this job. This is genius." Sou retorted.

"We could have taken a train covertly." Raphael muttered.

"A train is so obvious. Wizards travel by train all the time. Wizards never travel by horse and carriage." Sou smirked.

"He does make a good point; I arrived in Edelweiss via train." Jinx nodded.

"How did things come to this?" Raphael inquired exasperated.

"Well, last night when we were supposed to be planning, you two kept arguing. Then we had to throw together a transportation plan at the last minute." Jinx explained.

"Oh right, it was his fault that we were never able to come up with a decent plan." Raphael glared at Sou.

"We wouldn't have argued so much if you didn't shoot down my ideas constantly with such distain." Sou countered.

"Oh boo woo, did I hurt your feelings?" Raphael mocked.

"What is your problem? You have this abject personality and you're always putting people down. It's like you don't want to make friends. What's wrong with you?" Sou barked.

"That's because I'm not here to make friends. When I was a young boy I was happy, energetic, and friendlier in general. I was like a puppy. Then the dark guilds came, like a plague they ravaged my home, killing innocent people for the fun of it. I would have been killed but they decided that they needed to send a message." Raphael paused to take a breath. "They only let me live to tell people about what happened, but they gave me a parting gift before throwing me out into the world, two slashes to the face."

There was a silence now; one that neither Sou nor Jinx was able to break. Neither of them knew what to say, they didn't know how to respond to that revelation.

XXXXX

Alaska stared out of the train window as she waited for the locomotive to carry her towards her destination. She tightly clutched a knapsack as people walked by trying to prepare herself for returning the precious artefact back to Edelweiss.

After a lengthy discussion with Amagi and Elizabeth, they had chosen to take this specific train because this specific route always had only a few passengers on it. She was waiting for her younger teammates to return from buying snacks after they lost at cards.

The only other people in the car were a woman and her baby seated on the train across the aisle from her. Alaska could hear the baby squealing 'choo-choo' delightfully. The child was very excited, eagerly awaiting the train to start.

"I got everything." Amagi sighed as she sat down next to Alaska carrying a packet of snacks.

"I have the drinks." Elizabeth took the seat across Alaska and Amagi.

With a sudden jerk, the train began to move. At first it was slow but gradually it began to pick up pace and was moving across the tracks with speed as the world outside the window blurred by.

"Are you two clear on the plan?" Alaska tried to confirm.

"Yes, we get to Japonica City and find a decent place to stay." Elizabeth answered.

"Then we go to the library and research the Duchesses son." Amagi added.

"You forgot the part where we remain completely inconspicuous. We don't expect trouble on this job but we shouldn't go around asking for it." Alaska warned.

"Off course, the best way to avoid an attack is to avoid an attack." Amagi recited.

"That doesn't exactly apply here because our whole plan is to avoid getting into situations where we'll be attacked." Elizabeth responded.

"I know but I'm just saying that even in a fight we should rather evade getting hit then showing our full power and revealing ourselves as guild wizards." Amagi explained.

"We're not going to get into a fight we follow the plan we worked out last night." Elizabeth countered.

"It is a good plan but we should have a backup plan." Amagi stated.

"Silence you two!" Alaska scolded. "You're both right. Following our plan to the letter is the way to go and avoiding confrontation at all costs but it wouldn't hurt to have a plan B should things spiral out of our control."

"Yes ma'am." Amagi and Elizabeth responded.

"As the oldest from the three of us, I'm taking it on myself to be the leader of this little team." Alaska said.

"No arguments from me." Amagi agreed.

"The Ice Queen is fit to lead in my opinion." Elizabeth nodded.

XXXXX

Hitomi led the way through Edelweiss Forest with her knapsack slung on her shoulders as she wielded both her swords, cutting through the dense vegetation that obstructed her teams hike.

"Caitria, how are we doing?" Hitomi asked.

"According to the magic compass and map we should head in this direction and we'll eventually reach the mountains." Caitria answered following Hitomi.

"Just a reminder, last time we ventured off the beaten path we ended up encountering a crazed hunter and a blood user with a wolf bear." Merric reminded as he trailed behind.

"I think it's already been established that it was a wolf." Caitria replied.

"How long before we reach the mountains at this rate?" Hitomi asked.

"A long time, we'll definitely have to stop and make camp before nightfall." Caitria replied.

"I hate camping." Merric muttered.

"I thought Katherine said you grew up living on the road, always travelling. Shouldn't you be used to this?" Hitomi asked.

"That's just the problem; I spent so much time living like this I grew to dislike it." Merric admitted.

"It's getting darker." Caitria noted.

"No, that's just the canopy blocking the sun. The trees are much closer here." Hitomi explained. "The foliage is also denser."

Swiping through the air Hitomi sliced down some cobwebs in front of their faces. As they walked further cold, dewy leaves slid across their skin as the trees shed.

"I won't be surprised if we ended up stumbling onto a cabin in woods, this place is getting creepier and creepier." Merric shuddered.

"You're not scared are you Rick?" Hitomi teased.

"Rick? Can I call you Rick as well?" Caitria asked.

"Please don't, I prefer Merric." Merric huffed.

"You're awfully touchy about that." Caitria responded.

Using the tree trunks as support to prevent from slipping on wet leaves and mushrooms or tripping on bumpy roots and stones they marched on.

"My name, Merric, is the only thing I have from my mother. Williams is my father's last name." Merric explained. "Jagen never spoke about her so I know next to nothing about her. Never even seen a picture of her."

"I'm sorry Merric; I won't use the other name again. I know how important it is to have something of your family to hold onto." Hitomi apologized clutching her swords tighter.

"You don't have to be sorry; I haven't really shared my history with anyone in the guild." Merric sighed.

"Actually, no one has really revealed a lot about themselves in the guild. We've all revealed just enough to get along." Caitria stated.

"Jobs like this are a good opportunity to get to know each other." Merric theorised. "I think."

"This is not good; this forest is really getting thick. We need to stick together." Hitomi warned as space became a premium.

"My hands were really sore after I slipped last time." Caitria remembered how red her palms were.

"Here, I was going to switch to one blade anyway." Hitomi reverse Requiped one of her swords and led as she let Caitria hold on to her free hand.

"Don't I get someone's hand to hold?" Merric asked lumbering through bushy undergrowth.

"Are you feeling left out?" Hitomi joked.

"I just hope there aren't any frogs here." Merric brushed off the comment.

"Edelweiss Forest is home to 12 different species of frog and other amphibian species, including toads and salamanders." Caitria revealed.

"Well this was fun; I'll meet you back at the guild." Merric tried to turn around but Caitria grabbed his jacket sleeve and pulled him along.

Fighting their way through hanging vegetation as it snagged on their clothes they continued trying to make good time.

"What's up with you and frogs?" Hitomi asked.

"I rather not bring up childhood traumas now." Merric concentrated on 'eerie' sounds of the forest.

"Don't worry; we'll protect you from any amphibian that comes your way." Caitria promised.

* * *

><p>Authors Note:<p>

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

Just a heads up, I have a Howling Winds Christmas story up as a separate story. You can check it out on my profile.

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.

I have put up the new list of Howling Wind Guild members including magic on my profile, please check it out and let me know if everything is right with your OC.


	12. Chapter 12

Authors Note #1: I don't normally put these at the start of chapters but I just had to this time. THANK YOU, thank you to everyone who's been reading the story and reviewing. It means a lot to pass 100 reviews. Every time I log onto my email and see a review alert or an encouraging PM it fuels my writing aspirations. So again Thank You.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 <strong>

Night had fallen over Edelweiss but the Howling Winds guild was far from done with the day's work. Katherine was busy plotting the teams' movement on a magical map. Based on the last communication she received, all the teams had settled in for the night.

"This is the last of it." Kori said placing a book on one of the guild tables.

There were currently four tables occupied with books, with each table dedicated to a location that the teams were visiting. They had spent the day gathering different books from all over the city.

"We've got a lot of reading ahead of us. Some of these books will end of being completely useless." Katherine sighed.

"We could use Julia's help. She's been at the museum the whole day." Kori said looking at the clock.

"She should be back any minute now. Which book stack are you taking?" Katherine asked.

"I'll take Kennedia City." Kori answered.

"I figured you would since your partners were heading there." Katherine smiled. "I'll do Gerbera Ruins and Japonica City."

As they began reading, the doors opened and Julia walked in carrying a large box.

"A little help." Julia mumbled slightly losing grip after opening the door while carrying the box.

"Oh, here." Katherine used her telekinesis to move the box to a table.

"What's in the box?" Kori asked curious.

"The results of all my searching today." Julia smirked. "I have from the museum and library archives: books, diaries, newspaper clippings and city records all dealing with Duchess Alexis."

"I thought the crown was lost after the Duchess died." Kori mumbled.

"I figured if we knew more about Duchess Alexis it would help us understand where her sons' would hide the crown pieces." Julia explained. "Who knows maybe somewhere in all this information there may be the answers we seek."

"That's an interesting idea. You work that angle and I'll add Acacia City to my reading." Katherine nodded.

As they were about to start reading again, there was a knock at the door. "Hi Katherine, it's the mayor."

"Who is the mayor?" Kori mumbled.

"Mayor Aster Cole was elected earlier this year." Julia answered. "Maybe he wants to talk about the job."

"Come in." Katherine called out.

Aster was a tall, fair-skinned man. He wore thin, square frame glasses and a plain grey suit with a light blue shirt and a tie decorated with Edelweiss flowers. He had narrow black eyes and light blue hair that was combed neatly.

"What brings you all the way to our small guild this time of night Mayor Cole?" Katherine asked politely.

"Please Katherine, call me Aster. I came here to offer you any support you needed on the job." Aster replied. "I would have come earlier but work kept coming up."

"You didn't have to come all the way out here for that, you've already given us plenty of help by giving us that information about the Duchess's sons." Katherine responded.

"I don't believe we've met." Aster approached Julia and Kori. "How do you do?"

"Well Aster, as you can see we have a lot of work to get through." Katherine spoke up.

"Oh yes, these are a lot of books. I'll get out of your hair immediately." Aster smiled walking to the door. "Do not hesitate to ask for any help."

Once Aster was gone Katherine locked the door telekinetically before exhaling a deep sigh.

"You don't like him?" Julia picked up.

"Aster Cole, the 38 year old mayor of Edelweiss. He is 15 years my senior but he looks younger than me." Katherine gritted her teeth.

Kori and Julia forced themselves not to laugh.

XXXXX

The trio of dragon slayers continued to walk through the night, along worn out trails that weaved in and out of a woodsy forest area using hastily thrown together torches lit with Faith's flames to guide them.

"Are you sure we should be continuing?" Damone asked. "It won't hurt if we stop and make camp."

"Yeah, we told Katherine we were stopping for the night." Kazuya added.

"I know but Kipper said he saw something in the woods when he did a fly over. We should move to another camping area." Faith spoke leading the way.

"What exactly did you see?" Damone asked the Exceed.

"I'm not sure, it was dark but it could have been a bear, it could have been something worse." Kipper replied hovering above Faith.

"Bears aren't known to venture into these areas." Damone replied. "And besides, we're dragon slayers, we could take something worse."

"But I saw something…" Kipper mumbled.

"I woke early this morning; I was hoping to get some rest." Kazuya yawned.

"I know you guys are unhappy about packing up and moving after we made camp but I'm the oldest and in charge." Faith responded.

"Yes." Kazuya and Damone replied.

"I'm sorry." Faith sighed. "I'm supposed to be in charge but you guys don't trust me."

"No, we trust you." Damone said.

"You say that but deep down you don't." Faith shook her head.

"Its fine, I can sleep later." Kazuya tried to laugh.

"I was raised by the dragon Areos. He taught me sun dragon slayer magic and raised me like his own child." Faith spoke up.

"He sounds like a nice dragon." Kazuya nodded.

"When I was 12, Areos and I were attacked by dark mages. They came in the night like a swarm. Areos tried to fight them and protect me. In the end I was too weak and they killed him." Faith explained. "They killed him in front of me then they tore into him and dissected him so they could sell his teeth, scales and claws."

"That's horrible." Damone placed his hand on Faith's shoulder to try and comfort her.

"It's something that I can never forget. It still haunts me." Faith mumbled unable to share the rest of her past.

"I feel terrible for trying to push you earlier. If something like that happened to Aneria, my dragon, I would feel the same." Kazuya spoke up.

"I know how you feel Faith." Damone related.

"I doubt that." Faith mumbled.

"I also saw my father die." Damone admitted. "But his circumstances were different. He owed a large debt to a dark guild and he tried to run away when they came to collect. They killed him and took my sister."

"I'm sorry, I…" Faith tried to respond.

"It's alright, I can't say I'm completely over it but I was able to go on with my life because I had my mother." Damone continued.

"Guys look, there's another camping area up ahead." Kazuya pointed out.

"Let's check it out and if it's not safe enough we'll go to the next one." Damone replied.

"Sounds like a plan." Faith agreed.

XXXXX

Alaska stared out of the train window as it carried her towards her destination, outside the night scenery went by in a blur. She also enjoyed the mechanical chugging noise made by the train. She could lose herself in the rhythm; it was perfect for her to remain in her own little world.

"I'm going to kill that vendor when we get back to Edelweiss." Elizabeth moaned bringing Alaska back.

"Oh, you're awake. Go back to sleep, you need to rest." Alaska replied.

Elizabeth had a small blanket covering her as she rested next to Alaska on the double seat. The younger wizard was leaning towards the older, using her shoulder and arm like a pillow.

"My stomach is killing me. I should not have eaten that pie." Elizabeth mumbled.

Despite her appearance and attitude in the matter, she was just suffering stomach cramps after eating too much sugar.

"You'll be fine, you just need to rest." Alaska said.

"Oh what, you guys are awake." Amagi yawned rubbing her eyes. "I thought we were taking turns to sleep."

Amagi was enjoying all the space of having a double seat to herself as she wrapped her blanket around her so that only her head popped out.

"We are but Elizabeth is still not feeling well." Alaska explained.

"I told you not to buy it." Amagi sighed.

"A pie made of sweets… I couldn't help myself." Elizabeth groaned.

"Don't worry, you'll feel better soon." Alaska began patting Elizabeth on the head in a motherly way.

"Nobody's patted me on the head like this since I was thirteen." Elizabeth admitted.

"Why not?" Amagi asked.

"That was when my mum died." Elizabeth answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that. Back at the library you spoke about your father." Alaska remembered.

"When I was 7, my parents had this huge argument; I didn't even understand what it was about. But it was big enough to cause them to get divorced." Elizabeth explained as she closed her eyes to try and sleep. "My parents had separated me and my little sister, I ended up with my mom and my sister ended up with dad. I was never told where they went when we moved to Crocus."

"I know what it is like to have family out there in the world but not know where they are. My parents think my brother Cameron is dead but I know he's out there somewhere." Alaska spoke. "Before he was born all I did was sit in my father's restaurant all day alone. Growing up we always played cards because he wanted to."

"I had a brother once but he died on the battlefield fighting a battle he shouldn't have been, he went out there and fought and didn't realise how outmatched he was until it was too late." Amagi said bitterly. "It's late, you two go to sleep. I'll stay awake this time."

XXXXX

At a small outpost train station Sou, Raphael and Jinx sat on a bench waiting. They would have to wait for day break for the next train to stop at this wayside outpost. They had missed the train they planned to catch by mere minutes.

"This is your fault Sou." Raphael accused.

"How is this my fault?" Sou demanded to know.

"The idea of the horse drawn carriage was yours and that horse was so damn slow. It's like the coachman slowed down on purpose." Raphael replied.

"If he did slow down on purpose it was because you kept berating and insulting him." Sou pointed out.

"I was only telling the truth, that ride was far from comfortable. He could have put a lot more effort into avoiding divots in the road." Raphael countered.

"I have a brother." Jinx spoke up.

"We know, you've told us about him. You came to Edelweiss because you thought the shadow thief might be your brother." Sou replied.

"That possibility has not been ruled out. No one has seen the shadow thief's face." Raphael reminded.

"I grew up on an island closed off from the rest of the world. I was surrounded by a loving family of mages. I had this illusion of the world because of the very traditional, peaceful environment I grew up in. It all shattered when my brother snapped one day and attacked a clan member. He was banished and I never saw him again." Jinx explained.

"That I did not know. Why did your brother do it?" Sou asked.

"I don't know. It was a source of shame for my family and they never spoke about it. I came to Fiore to search for my brother and for the past five years I've been searching for him with no luck." Jinx answered.

"Five years is a long time to be searching for someone. They clearly don't want to be found." Raphael mumbled.

"I know, whenever I got close the trail went cold. But I'm never going to give up; I'm always going to search." Jinx replied.

A silence followed with Raphael and Sou unsure of what to say next.

"This is nice, this silence is peaceful." Jinx smiled softly.

XXXXX

Smoke rose through the air into the night sky from the small fire that Merric had started with his lightning. The campfire crackled as Hitomi poked it a sword while Caitria fed it sticks. The trio were sitting around the fire as they prepared to take shifts sleeping.

"Aren't you glad you brought sleeping bags?" Hitomi spoke up as she unrolled hers.

"In hindsight, my complaints about sleeping bags making our bags heavier were a mistake." Merric said apologetically.

"The first shift is mine; enjoy your two hours of sleep." Caitria said.

"I can't sleep." Merric complained. "Let's swap; I'll take the first shift."

"I'm not tired; I won't be able to fall asleep as well." Caitria replied.

"You never seem to have a problem sleeping in the guild Merric, or at least that's what Katherine complains about." Hitomi noted.

"I also seem to remember Katherine complaining about you waking up on time." Caitria nodded.

"Sleeping is easy, falling asleep is hard. I usually have to read a lot before my eyes can't stay open." Merric revealed.

"I also used to have problems sleeping when I was younger. Whenever I would close my eyes I would see it." Caitria said out loud what she was thinking.

"See what?" Hitomi asked.

"Nothing…" Caitria mumbled.

"You're very closed off, like distant." Hitomi pointed out.

"I have my reasons." Caitria replied feeling under the spotlight.

"And you're quick tempered Hitomi." Merric said.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Hitomi asked heatedly.

"You're extremely disorganised Merric." Caitria added.

"So is this what we're doing, pointing out flaws in each other's personality." Hitomi asked.

"No, we're merely stating what we've observed about each other since none of us likes to talk about ourselves." Merric countered.

"This is the second time that point has been mentioned today. Is it really that important to know everything about your guild mates?" Hitomi asked.

"I don't know if it is but it's much easier to trust someone once you know more about them. If I was in a battle I would be able to trust someone I know to watch my back more than a stranger." Merric replied.

"Then you start, why don't you tell us about yourself." Caitria said.

"When I was born my mother didn't want me so she dumped me on my father, Jagen. He wasn't the settling type so he raised me on the road. I grew up moving town to town almost every month so my father could take wizard jobs, a life without structure. My father would leave me with whoever he could while he went out on jobs." Merric revealed.

"It must be hard, not knowing." Caitria mumbled.

"I don't even know her name. All I know is she gave me mine." Merric answered.

"I had a family, a mother, a father, a sister. We were happy living in our dojo. We did everything in that dojo, living, training, life was good. When I was 12 I went out for a walk and when I came back Rune Knights were all over my house. They were chasing a dark mage and he ran into my house to hide. While he was there he killed my family." Hitomi revealed. "For the longest time I blamed myself for not being home."

"I'm sorry; it must seem ridiculous to hear someone complaining about their family after something like that happened to you." Merric responded.

Caitria sat down and pulled her knees close to her chest, ducking her face as she looked down. "I killed my father."

Merric and Hitomi didn't know how to respond.

"When I was young my family took my red eyes as a sign that I was a demon spawn and treated me such but my father saw magical potential in me. He taught me magic and pushed me to my limits in training and I always ran out of magical energy. One day during training something happened and I ended up killing him when I had a seizure." Caitria explained.

Caitria expected Merric and Hitomi to be scared or disgusted with her but instead she felt Hitomi's arm around her shoulder.

"That was an accident." Hitomi whispered as she hugged Caitria.

"I would join in the hug but I'm not really the hugging type." Merric extended a closed hand to Caitria.

Caitria smiled weakly as she completed the fist bump.

* * *

><p>Authors Note #2:<p>

Happy New Year!

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

Starting tomorrow, as of 2 January 2015, I will be joining the working population. My first official job. *cheers and celebration* But alas, starting work means I will move out of my home sometime this month to my own place. What that means is I will no longer have access to a steady internet connection. So going forward my updates may become erratic but rest assured I am not giving up this story!

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.

OC Arcs:

I always intended to give each OC his or her own arc in the story. With regard to these arcs, I planned on using your OC's history to create an arc and I've outline rough arc drafts for the all OC's submitted.

However, if you have ideas for your OC arc and you want me to write that instead of me coming up with my own arc then I'm fine with that but within reason. For example an unreasonably arc would be your OC going off on a journey to kill Acnologia or Zeref or something along those lines.

If you want to discuss your OC arc (first OC arc will begin after chapter 35) then you can PM me to discuss it (Keep in mind I have written your OC so far based on the original history you submitted).

If you're fine with me using my own ideas then let me know via Pm and I'll flesh out the ideas that I've drafted.

Canon Notice:

Without giving away manga spoilers, I will _**not**_ be using the revelations about the Dragons and Dragon Slayers which was seen in Chapter 413 in this story. I have my reasons for doing so.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The clock in the guild hall of Howling Winds slowly ticked as the hour hand settled on 11 and the minute hand inched towards 12. They had been working since 8am and didn't look like giving up.

The robust scent of fresh brewed coffee filled the guild hall as Katherine set up a coffee maker on one of the free tables. The sound of coffee being put in a grinder was followed by the sounds of Kori placing plates of cookies and cakes on the same table.

"Would you like a cup?" Katherine asked looking in Julia's direction.

"Yes please, I'll have some once I finish this." Julia responded with her head in a book. "I'm almost done."

"You've been reading that a while now, must be interesting." Katherine commented.

"If that's the case then you're lucky, everything I picked up has been boring." Kori sighed.

"Done!" Julia exclaimed finally putting the book down.

"You weren't kidding when you said you were almost done." Katherine laughed as she poured a cup of fresh coffee.

"Once I started reading that book I couldn't stop." Julia confessed as she approached and accepted the cup.

"What was it about?" Kori asked.

"Duchess Alexis Fiore." Julia answered.

"You mean Duchess Alexis Edelweiss?" Kori replied.

"No, that book was a detailed accountant of the Duchess's life before she got married. Before she settled down with her husband she was a very skill mage. She was regarded as one of the strongest female mages of her time." Julia explained.

"I didn't know she was a mage." Katherine marvelled.

"That's because she stopped practicing magic just before she got married, I haven't been able to find the reason as to why." Julia responded.

"I hope that all your research into the Duchess will yield some clues as to where her sons may have hidden the crown pieces." Katherine wondered.

"Not really but I may have uncovered something about the crown." Julia revealed. "She was given the crown as wedding present but from what I've been reading she never wore it."

"That's strange; if I got a crown as a gift I would wear it all the time." Kori mumbled. "Especially if I was royalty."

"Well, I think I may have found something. While I was reading about Gerbera Ruins, Japonica City and Acacia City I came to understand that the sons lived very different lives but the one thing these three did in common was construct a Zentopia Church." Katherine uncovered.

"Wait…" Kori muttered before running to a book and flipping through it. "Same thing in Kennedia City."

"That can't be right." Julia muttered putting her coffee down and rushing back to her books.

Katherine and Kori watched as Julia rummaged through her books, flipping pages and moving on from book to book.

"Here it is. Duchess Alexis and her husband Duke Carlton were not members of Zentopia. In fact they were opposed to it, citing the unregulated use of the Zentopia Legion Corps as their reason." Julia read.

"That makes it all the more strange that their sons would build Zentopia churches." Katherine pondered.

"Unless they wanted to use them for something else." Julia hinted.

"Zentopia is like a little independent state. In fact, Zentopia and its churches are almost completely independent from Fiore. That would make them the perfect place for hiding something." Katherine said.

"That seems like a lot of trouble just to hide some pieces of a crown." Kori noted.

"Indeed, Julia I want you to do more research on that crown. Something about all this is not adding up." Katherine stated.

"We should let the others know about the church." Kori spoke up.

"We should set up the Lacrima communication link." Katherine agreed.

"I'll do it." Kori exclaimed.

Kori ran to the bar counter and pulled out a large crystal ball looking Lacrima and placed it on the table. She then channelled magic into it, causing it to glow. The large Lacrima then began to pick up on the small communication Lacrima that had been distributed.

"Howling Winds guild, Lacrima communication link established." Kori announced.

Soon voices began coming through the large Lacrima from the others.

"This is Raphael, I can hear you."

"Merric here, what's up guys?"

"Hi, Alaska confirming link."

"The link is a bit static on my end but I can't still hear you all, Faith over."

"Listen up people." Katherine declared walking up the large Lacrima. "We found something that could be a potential clue. When you get to your respective destination, I want you to rest up and then head out and search for Zentopia churches that were built by the Duchess's sons. It could be where the crown pieces are hidden or it could be nothing."

XXXXX

Under the dead of night, with the moon as the only light over the Edelweiss graveyard, five figures moved through the darkness circling the old fashioned iron fence heading towards one of the many gates.

In these darkened conditions, the statues of stone angels marking graves scattered across the graveyard seemed more like demons. The eeriness of it all amplified by the feeling of being watched.

The figures moving through the night had one destination, a private mausoleum that was in a cordoned off family burial plot.

One at a time they entered the outstandingly large mausoleum which was lit up with wooden torches. The mausoleum was the size of a small house but there was only a single crypt inside.

Standing at the head of the crypt was the person who had called the meeting. He had bandages covering most of his face, leaving only his right eye uncovered. On his head was a conical straw hat. A long black cloak covered his body, even the sleeves went past his hands.

"What is this place?" Magdalene scoffed as she could taste the stale air.

"This is resting place of Duke Carlton Edelweiss." The bandaged man responded with a hint of pride.

"A Duke, that's fancy." Magdalene smirked.

"This better not be some cult thing." Lili warned.

"We came here for a job not to join a cult." Luke added.

"A cult, like that sand brotherhood thing?" Magdalene thought out loud.

"What's the sand brotherhood thing?" Matthew asked.

"They're a cult that threatened the King of Fiore a while ago but they've been silent ever since. They said they were going to search for an ancient weapon and use it on him." Lili spoke before Magdalene could.

"That was a stupid move, if you ask me." Magdalene mumbled.

"Who are you and why have you brought us here?" Dex demanded to know placing his hand on the grip of his colt.

"I assure you this is no cult. Lilith 'Lili' Moores, Lucifer 'Luke' Grace, Magdalene Fortner, Dex the Hunter and Matthew Andrew Haze. I've gathered you all here because you are what I need." The bandaged man spoke.

"That doesn't answer anything." Luke scoffed.

"We still don't know who you are or why we're here." Lili added.

"My name is… That's not important but I am the seventeenth descendent of Duke Edelweiss." The bandaged man revealed. "Refer to me as XVII (seventeen)."

"You really expect us to believe you're some kind of royalty." Dex laughed.

"I don't care what you believe; you're here for a job. A job worth 20 million jewels if you succeed." XVII responded.

"I don't care if you're calling yourself king of the world, for that kind of money I'm in." Magdalene exclaimed.

"I'm in." Matthew mumbled. "But that's a moot point since I work for Mr Shadow…"

"Luke and I are in." Lili nodded.

"With that kind of money I can just imagine the hunts I can go on." Dex drooled.

"Perfect but before I begin to discuss this job, I want to introduce someone who you all have already met." XVII said.

From the shadows behind XVII, a figure emerged. The shadow thief then stepped forward until he was standing at XVII's side.

"This is Cyrus." XVII introduced. "I sent him to recruit you and I apologize for his lack of communication."

Cyrus pulled his hood tighter increasing the shadow magic that concealed his face.

"Can Cyrus speak?" Magdalene asked curious.

"Yes, Cyrus can speak but speaking would break the shadow illusion that keeps his face hidden." XVII explained. "He is shy."

"Now that we've been introduced, what's this job you brought us here for?" Luke asked impatient.

"Edelweiss City has a new guild, Howling Winds." XVII stated.

"Howling Winds…" Dex gritted his teeth gripping his guns.

"I smell some bad blood." Magdalene smirked.

"I have a score to settle with some of them." Dex calmed down.

"This job may afford you a morsel of revenge." XVII assured. "Howling Winds has been tasked with retrieving four pieces of a very valuable crown. I have it on good authority that they've despatched three members each to four locations."

"I'm doing the math and we're out numbered unless we all go from location to location together." Luke retorted.

"No, Dex will go to Acacia City, Magdalene will go to Gerbera Ruins, Lilith will go to Japonica City and you Luke will go to Kennedia City." XVII explained.

"What about me?" Matt asked.

"You will get your task, be patient." XVII responded.

"I'm good but three on one is pushing it." Dex complained.

"They're going to be the ones at a disadvantage." XVII laughed.

Cyrus disappeared into the shadows and reappeared carrying a box of vials with blue glowing liquid inside.

"Do you know what Eternano is?" XVII asked.

"Eternano is the term coined to name particles of Magic. Eternano dwells inside all living organisms and throughout the atmosphere." Lili answered.

"In these vials is a formula of concentrated liquid Eternano, drinking these will more than quadruple your power for twenty minutes." XVII explained. "It will raise your power by allowing the absorption of Eternano from the air around you at an inhuman rate."

"That should theoretically negate the three on one disadvantage." Lili mumbled.

"But this increase in power may leave you feeling overconfident and untouchable." XVII warned.

"I guess it's true what they say, power corrupts." Magdalene muttered.

"So what's the plan?" Luke asked. "We show up right after the Howling Winds people find the crown piece, drink the liquid Eternano, kick their butts and steal the crown."

"No, the plan is… I shouldn't really say. I've written down instructions for you all to follow in these envelopes, try and follow them as much as possible." XVII explained as he revealed four envelopes from his sleeve.

"I'm just hoping to get some payback." Dex confessed.

"Don't screw this up for the rest of us because you have a grudge." Lili warned.

"All of you will also have to acquire powerful magic for excavating." XVII noted. "The instructions will tell you why."

"How do we know that we're even going to get paid for this?" Magdalene asked sceptically.

XVII then threw a small bag of highly valuable jewels to each of them containing 10% of their share of the reward.

"You complete your jobs and I give you the rest of the jewels." XVII answered.

Cyrus then walked around the mausoleum handing out pictures, maps and vials of liquid Eternano. Dex received pictures of Jinx, Sou and Raphael. Magdalene received pictures of Merric, Hitomi and Caitria. Lili received pictures of Alaska, Amagi and Elizabeth. Luke received pictures of Faith, Kazuya and Damone.

On the back of each picture was a description of the magic each person used. The maps pointed to the location of each crown piece and where exactly it was.

XVII then slid across the crypt to each person the envelopes he had spoken about earlier. "Inside these are the instructions and a teleportation card. Once you're done with the job, break the card and it will bring you back here. Only break it when you're done, it's a once off trip."

With a tip of his hat Dex turned around and started walking away.

"Where do you think you're going?" Luke asked.

"I'm heading off to Acacia City." Dex smirked.

Soon everybody moved off leaving XVII, Cyrus and Matt in the mausoleum.

"Matthew, I want you to position yourself in Edelweiss City and spy on the guild. Anything major happens, report it to Cyrus." XVII ordered.

"How do I get in touch with Cyrus?" Matt asked.

Cyrus handed Matt a piece of paper with instructions before leaving in shadow form.

"Go, you have a job to do." XVII glared at Matthew with his visible eye.

"Yes sir." Matt took off.

Once he was alone in the room, XVII traced his hands along the Duke's crypt and stopped when he came to a portion that had four small holes that were perfectly spaced and perpendicular.

"Soon, soon I will have unlimited power." XVII laughed.

XXXXX

Authors Note:

If you have any comments, criticisms or thoughts, about the story or about how I'm portraying your OC, leave those in a review or you can PM me.

I was able to update! Thank technology and those tiny USB things you plug in to get internet on the go. So as long as I have data I can keep updating.

OC submission:

OC submissions are closed for now.

OC Arcs:

Order of Arcs; chapters to be decided.

Arc #1 - Sou Tsubaki

Arc #2 - Jinx Akuma

Arc #3 - I need a villain OC creator to contact me here based on the 'OC Arcs' information from the last chapter.


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